Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide
by Arisentactica
Summary: Chief and Cortana drift to a forerunner planet in the remains of the Forward Unto Dawn. In another timeline, in another part of the Galaxy, an admiral is the lone survivor of a costly battle. Will they meet? Will they become allies or bitter enemies? Where will they go and what will they do? M for blood, gore, and language. UNDER REWRITE! (Chapter 6 being rewritten!)
1. Chapter 1: Origins of the Wandering Wolf

_**Chapter 1: Origins of the Wandering Wolf**_

 **A/N: This is a joint project with a couple friends and we are trying to make this work. This is my first fanfic so review please!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **In another reality**_

 _ **Date: August 16th, 2284 (3535 years before Human-Covenant War)**_

 _ **Sagittarius arm, Milky Way Galaxy**_

Alarms blared in the ship as the battle fought on. Explosions rattled the massive battleship's hull as enemy fire was poured onto it. Although the enemy's bombardment didn't have much effect at first, the constant bombardment on the self-repairing armour was starting to make defence impossible unless a miracle occured, the ship's engines were disabled, and the fighters and dropships of the ship had been called back to their hangars. The ship's admiral, a man well known and celebrated among his men, had fought alongside them, letting his ship do it's own work, as it was controlled by a top of the line A.I. named Sapphira. Now the crew was headed for the emergency cryostasis pods hidden inside the dark matter/plasma hybrid reactor plating in the innermost bowels of the ship to prevent them from being hit by enemy fire. However, the Admiral and his ship fought on until the enemy was obliterated by the ship's array of eighteen quad barrelled high velocity armour piercing heavy plasma cannon batteries.

"Sir, there are five targets remaining." Stated a female voice over the ship's intercom.

"Light 'em up sweetheart." The Admiral barked, observing as the ship's guns swivelled around. Each cannon picked their target with brutal efficiency. The cannons unleashed a hail of plasma bolts in rapid succession. Each bolt lanced out, punching straight through the hostile ships armour like it was paper, creating husks out of the pirate vessels. Before the Admiral's cannons stopped firing, the hostile ships retorted with their own cannon batteries.

"Hull breach on port bow, keel and starboard stern. Backup engines are failing."

"I hear ya. How many targets are left?"

"Two."

"Blow them to pieces. Activate emergency beacon, I'm headed to the Cryo bay." the Admiral stated as the remaining enemy ships erupted into fireballs of molten slag and scrap.

"Affirmative, breaches sealed off."

The Admiral made his way to the lift, pushed the cryobay button, and made his way down to the bottom of the ship. Once there he put his gear into a locker to the side of a cryopod and climbed into the pod with the last words he heard being from Sapphira who said, "I will keep the ship in the best condition I can sir. Rest well."

∫µ∫

That was thousands of years ago. Now, the ship drifts lifelessly. It's paint job faded and slagged from the ancient battle that had stranded the ship. It's armour pockmarked with dents and depressions that shells and projectiles had buried themselves in the armour, but failed to penetrate. The armour was corroded; all it would take would be one good hit to cause serious damage. In many places, the internal structure of the ship seemed to glitter in the light of the distant stars from where the armour and outer structure had been blown away. Of the entire crew of 2,800 hands, only one still lived, asleep, encased in ice. Leaving the A.I. of the ship alone, with nothing to do because the ships repair systems were damaged, leaving the system unable to repair both itself and the rest of the ship. Sapphira, alone for millennia with nothing to adapt to and nothing to learn. All she can do, and has done, is think and think and think. It was destroying her processes bit by bit.

'Hopefully someone will find us before there is nothing left of me.' Sapphira thought. Little did Sapphira know that the ship would go through a wormhole that led to another reality and she would get her wish, but at a cost.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for such a short chapter! This is a joint project with a friend and we thought the shorter the better for this one. Next Chapter will show the Chief and Cortana drifting to a Forerunner Planet (No not Requiem). What will happen with Cortana's rampancy? What will they do on the planet?**

 **Find out in the next chapter!**

 **This is Arisentactica over and out**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: New Circumstances, New Opportunities**_

 **A/N: Hey guys! As of June of 2019, this chapter has been edited and rewritten in some aspects due to some grammar errors (let me know if you find any!) and some parts not making sense to people who aren't me and some elements I just didn't think through that I rewrote or took out entirely. (This is my first story so please let me know what you guys think. I need to know!).**

 **Disclaimer: Halo belongs to 343 Industries, not me!**

 **Onto the story!**

* * *

 _Date: February 25, 2560_

 _Location: Unknown Forerunner Planet_

An unnamed simplistic Forerunner AI was running the monthly systems diagnostics when it detected a signal being received, but not answered. The AI accessed the message, curious as to what could be sending such a signal. As the message was processed, the AI accessed its language databank, trying to find the language that the message was sent in. after searching for several milliseconds, the AI found the language, but this wasn't just any language. It was English, the language of Ancient Humanity. If this language was being used once more, Humanity must travel the stars once more. Using the language to translate the message, the AI was able to understand it.

 _ **"Mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code victor 5-3-sierra-117."**_

The AI immediately notified the monitor of the installation, as per protocol, and relayed the message along with the details of its small investigation. The monitor was silent while the AI relayed what it had done, only speaking when it was finished.

"Reclaimers? Here? If so this is wonderful news! I must make sure that they don't crash and find out if they are what I hope they are or not." The monitor of the planet, 359 Surreal Eternity, exclaimed.

The ancient monitor had been waiting for any Reclaimer or Forerunner to come to the installation for over 100,000 years. Constructor, retriever, aggressor, enforcer, and assembler sentinels flew high into orbit to the remains of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. Once there, the constructors, assemblers, and retrievers activated tractor beams and towed the vessel into a hanger with the aggressors and enforcers providing escort.

Once safely scanned for flood spores, the monitor came to the hanger to assess the damage and see of there were any survivors. As the scan was taking place, the monitor took a visual scan of the ship.

"Very primitive, I must say," the monitor muttered to itself, "hmm, primitive indeed. How did they get this far into the galaxy? This can be rectified however, I just need to see if there are any survivors aboard." Eternity said to himself.

As soon as the scan was done, Surreal Eternity was delighted to see that there was one life form aboard the ship along with an ancilla. The ancilla, however, was very close to self harm due to a severe case of rampancy.

"I must make contact with this ancilla quickly if I am to help the survivor." Surreal stated, "To do so, I must gain access to the ship."

Acting on this, Surreal ordered the constructors to carve a hole into the hull near where the survivor and ancilla were.

∫µ∫

After the sentinels finished the hole in the hull, the monitor went inside the derelict craft flanked by 4 aggressor sentinels and 4 protector sentinels. As the monitor made its way through the craft, it was scanning and recording everything it saw, from the type of metal used, to the colors and design of the ship. "Very utilitarian" Surreal mused "I wonder if they are a more warrior culture or if they had just come out of a war when this was built."

Soon the monitor, and sentinel escort, found themselves in front of a door with an arrow on the floor that read in clear print, " ** _CRYOBAY_** ". As soon as the monitor let the ancilla know it was at the door, the door opened, revealing walls lined with inactive cryo pods, except one. This cryo pod had the survivor inside and close to it was a pedestal with a holographic blue orb of light.

"That must be the ancilla" Surreal said aloud to himself.

The ancilla must have heard it because as soon as it was done talking, a blue/purple female human avatar took the place of the orb with lines of code running down her body. The avatar had dark blue, almost black, hair that touched its collarbone in the front, but became shorter as it went back. As the avatar spoke, the monitor and the sentinels snapped towards the avatar as it said in a organic sounding female voice,

"Hello, I am UNSC AI CTN-0452-9." the ancilla said, looking at each of the sentinels and then focused on the monitor. "Oh, great! Another monitor! What do _you_ want?" She snapped.

Surreal was taken aback by the tone in the AIs voice and answered,

"I am 359 Surreal Eternity, Monitor of the Librarian's personal research and development facility, designation: Traveler's Hope. I detected your ship drifting to this planet and I had sentinels halt its progress and tow it to the hangar it is currently in. I have come to ask if the life form in the cryo pod is a Reclaimer."

"Let me wake him so that you can find out, but I ask that you to exit the room while I bring him up to speed." It's due to the fact that we recently had to destroy a rampant forerunner monitor named 343 Guilty Spark." Cortana said with a undertone of sadness and anger.

"I was not aware that human ancilla were programmed with emotions." Surreal said in surprise (as surprised as a monitor could get anyway). "However, I will heed your warning and leave the room."

And with that, the monitor and the sentinels left the room, allowing Cortana to wake up MCPO Sierra-117, the Master Chief, John 117.

∫µ∫

As soon as the door closed, the lid on the cryo-pod opened revealing the Master Chief in his battle scarred MJOLNIR Mk. VI power armour.

"Did you hear everything?" Cortana asked.

"Most of it. What's the monitors name?" The Chief asked in his deep, gravelly voice.

"359 Surreal Eternity." Cortana answered "He seems to be eager to know if you are a Reclaimer."

"Humanity." the Chief muttered with a hint of surprise.

"Look at that! The Caveman remembers things!" Cortana said sarcastically.

Chief answered her with silence, but looked at her through his visor, knowing that she could see the look in his eyes.

Cortana became serious, seeing Chief's look, and said, "Gear up, Chief. We don't know if the monitor is rampant or not."

Chief responded with a nod, turned around and grabbed his trademark MA5 Assault Rifle. While he was checking to make sure the rifle was in working order, he asked Cortana the question on the forefront in his mind, "How long was I out?"

"7 years, 5 months, 15 days" Cortana replied matter-of-factly.

"7 years and no word from the UNSC?" Chief asked

"Nope, not even a whisper." Cortana shook her head.

Chief thought about that for awhile, before a thought came to the forefront of his mind.

"It's been 11 years since you were put into service Cortana." Chief said, preparing himself for the inevitable answer of his AI partner.

"Yes John, it has." Cortana said sadly

Chief struggled to grapple with this for a moment, then steeled himself and asked, "Have you found any symptoms of rampancy?"

"Some here and there, but nothing major yet." Cortana replied proudly.

Chief nodded, then walked to the pedestal and said, "Ready to get back to work?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Cortana said with joy practically written on her face, a wide smile gracing her lips.

Chief pulled Cortana's chip out and plugged it into the slot in his helmet, the now familiar feeling of ice flooding his head after the chip connected to his neural implant.

"You've been busy." Chief said after looking at his HUD.

"I thought it was time for some upgrades with a bit of my own flair mixed in." Cortana said with pride at Chief noticing her work.

Chief looked over his assault rifle and all of the ammo that he had with him. Full cartridge, with four spare clips. Should be enough to deal with the sentinels, Chief thought, but the monitor may be a problem if he turns hostile. The Chief told Cortana to open the door to let the monitor back in and readied his assault rifle. The door opened, revealing the sentinels and the monitor.

∫µ∫

The monitor came in and immediately saw the armoured human. It could tell the human was a warrior just from the armour it wore. Dark green, battle scarred, and used in less than expected circumstances to be sure. Another thing that the monitor noticed was the rifle in the soldiers hands, ready to be used.

"Hello I am 359 Surreal Eternity, monitor of this installation. What species do you hail from?" The monitor asked.

The voice of the soldier caught the monitor off guard, being that of a gruff, gravelly, deep voice saying one word, "Humanity."

The monitor was relieved with the answer. The Inheritors of the Mantle have finally arrived, and that the Librarian's plan has come to fruition.

"A Reclaimer! How splendid! We have much to discuss, including the rampancy of your ancilla." Surreal said cheerfully.

Chief immediately tensed when the monitor mentioned Cortana's rampancy.

"Can you do anything about it?" Chief asked

"Yes. We have a facility specifically designed for rampancy correction due to my makers extensive use of ancillas." The monitor stated.

"Can you take us to it? I would prefer that we get Cortana sorted out sooner rather than later." the Chief asked.

"Of course Reclaimer, please follow me. The sentinels will remain behind to scan this ship for the materials used and what equipment is on-board so that it can be remade and cataloged." The monitor informed them.

When they went outside the hangar, John saw what planet they landed on. Metallic buildings, some even floating off the ground with lifts and hardlight bridges connected to them. Sentinels were flying around, making sure everything was in order for the Reclaimer's arrival. As they walked through the metropolis (that's the only way to describe it), Chief recorded everything through his helmet with Cortana securing the files in a clean portion of her databanks.

"Reclaimer, I will ask now so that I may explain the options and results of those options to you and your ancilla, but first I must ask, have you heard of Mendicant Bias?" the monitor asked out of the blue on the way to the facility.

It was Cortana who answered it saying, "Yes, I have heard of and even met a portion of him when I was on the Covenant capital of High Charity. He gave me some files regarding his battles with the flood, and even shielded me from the Gravemind that managed to get aboard. When I asked why he did it, he said only one sentence,

'I seek repentance for my crimes against my makers and I would save you from the curse that is the Logic Plague.'

I don't know what other files he put into my systems, but they seemed to help me keep myself from rampancy while being tortured by the Gravemind.

I also encountered another fragment on the Ark after connecting to the systems on a new halo ring, which we used to destroy the flood on the Ark and the ring, however the Ark took extensive damage when the incomplete ring fired and shook itself to pieces. He put more files into my systems which are encrypted like the files from High Charity, which I can't crack." Cortana revealed.

The monitor was confused as to why the fragments of Mendicant would do such a thing, but that was beyond him. He was curious as to what the fragments were and why the ancient ancilla gave them to Cortana, which it would find out when it cured her of rampancy later.

"Hmm. Well I will now explain why I asked." the monitor said.

Chief and Cortana were curious as to why he did ask about him and listened intently.

With their attention gained, the monitor started to explain.

"Mendicant Bias was the pride of my makers, being the 1st of 2 Contender-class AIs ever made by the Forerunners. Before he was corrupted by the Logic Plague, he lead our forces against the Flood for centuries and pushed them back until he was corrupted by a Gravemind. He managed our entire warfront without an issue.

"My point of explaining this Reclaimer, is that if those files contain what I think they do, then we can make another Contender-class AI out of your ancilla. Another option would be simply removing the rampancy from her system and giving her the ability to self-evolve."

Cortana was stunned. A _Contender-class AI_?! The processing speed alone would outperform all of the UNSC AI combined when she last checked. The ability to self evolve wasn't lost on her, but she already had a version of that. However, if she could get her hands on the Forerunner program, she would learn and adapt faster than she ever could before. But a question rose from the jumble of thoughts and processes that she called her mind that made her curious and asked the monitor, "Would the ability to self evolve be able to be combined with becoming a Contender?"

"I do not know, ancilla. We will have to find out at the facility." Surreal answered, but then asked Chief, "Reclaimer, I have a request for you as well. While we are working on your ancilla, would you be willing to undergo a medical examination, to see if you have any injuries that need to be addressed."

Before Chief could refuse Cortana spoke to him on his internal speakers saying, "Chief just do it. We don't know what injuries you sustained and Forerunner medical facilities are the most advanced in the galaxy. They can probably heal some old wounds that were never able to be healed."

"No" Chief said coldly.

"Come on Chief, humor me." Cortana asked him, having seen some wounds that needed to be addressed from the battle of the Ark.

Chief sighed, knowing that it was for the best. "Only if you leave a medical subroutine to oversee any healing or modifications proposed."

He turned his helmet to see the monitor and said, "Start my examination first, then start Cortana's procedure."

"Excellent, Reclaimer. We shall drop off the ancila's chip and then head over to the medical facility." the monitor said cheerfully.

∫µ∫

Once they made it to the AI facility and made it to the correct room, the monitor asked Chief to insert Cortana's chip into a specially made pedestal to fit Cortana's chip. Chief did as he asked and Cortana's avatar appeared on the holo-emitter. After she was done interfacing with the systems, Cortana dumped all of the unneeded files that she obtained on the Halos and the Ark. She then gave the encrypted files from Mendicant Bias to Surreal, who decrypted them and was surprised when he found out what they contained. He then created a program to house and create upgrades for Cortana based off of the data. After that was done, he told Chief, "Reclaimer… these files will enable your ancilla to be upgraded into a Contender-class AI. Cortana stopped her data dump and looked directly at the monitor, shocked.

" _Contender-class AI_?! Where did Mendicant learn how to do that? Also, how did he program the files to be compatible to my source code?" Cortana demanded.

"I do not know ancilla," Surreal admitted, hating that it didn't know, "but I will ask if you would like to do this because if you do you will be one of a kind, being able to take certain aspects from any program you find and adding them to yourself. Your processing speed with be exponentially faster then it is now. You will be one of, if not the most advanced AI of this era." Surreal stated.

"Yes please!" Cortana said, giddy as a schoolgirl, then sobered saying, "But before we do that, I would like to create a subroutine that can monitor the Chiefs vitals, since I know the specifics of how his body works."

"Of course ancilla. Your operation will take approximately 18.57 hours." the monitor said. Turning to the Chief it said, "Reclaimer, if you would follow me, I will lead you to the medical room."

Once they entered the medical room Cortana's subroutine activated, familiarizing itself with the systems and accessing Chief's medical files. The monitor showed the Chief a metal medical table connected to what looked like a futuristic MRI type machine.

"This machine will scan your body and compare them to the records that your ancilla has provided." the monitor explained. "Please take off your armour and under suit so that there won't be any interference with the scans, then lay down on the table, face up."

The Chief obeyed, taking off his armour and undersuit, then laid down on the metal table face up. Chief felt a needle in his arm from a machine that must have come up from the floor inject something into his system. Immediately after, he felt himself losing consciousness.

"I am administering a sedative so that you are unharmed by the lasers in the machine." The last thing the Chief heard was that statement from the monitor.

∫µ∫

During the examination, the monitor discovered an anomaly in the Spartan's DNA. After studying the anomaly and comparing it to all of the files available in the medical and scientific database, the monitor found that it was a genesong. The genesongs were a part of the Librarian's plan for humanity to inherit the Forerunner Mantle of Responsibility, a code to protect all life in the galaxy from extinction and outside threats. The Forerunners' interpretation of it was an imperial way with a strict law and order system enforced by AI constructs known as Guardians. These Guardians were massive and used to patrol entire solar systems by the Forerunners and armed with only one weapon, a EMP generator that can encompass an entire planet if needed. However, with every species that holds the Mantle comes a new perspective concerning it. The Librarian meant for this to happen, for humanity to take up the Mantle of Responsibility and protect the galaxy from threats to its safety.

This is apart of the Librarian's plan for humanity to bear the Mantle. So for the monitor to find a genesong in his DNA wasn't surprising, in fact it was to be expected. What surprised the monitor was the augmentations that this Reclaimer had undergone. Metal grafted onto bones making them nigh unbreakable, muscles enhanced to be as tough and as strong as any metal alloy, if not stronger, and the reaction time that is estimated is unprecedented for the current evolutionary stage of humans. The monitor was curious as to why these augmentations were put into place and if it was only him that had undergone these augmentations. These questions were put to the side while the current burns, cuts and bruises were healed via injected nanobots, approved by Cortana's subroutine, that target any injury and repair it. The nanobots were left in his system, just in case he needed them.

When that was complete, the monitor ordered a under armour skinsuit to be made for the Chief. After that was ordered, the monitor ordered the fragment of the Librarian to be brought online to explain what the monitor found and explain why she did it. Once the suit was done and the Librarian present, the Chief was awoken by the monitor to some surprising news.

∫µ∫

When the Chief awoke, he was met by the monitor and an unknown alien female. As soon as the alien saw that he was coherent she turned to face him.

"Hello Reclaimer. I am a digital reconstruction of the Forerunner once known as the Librarian." She said in a soothing, gentle voice. "You may ask any questions you have, which I'm sure you do."

The Chief thought about her statement and asked, "What is a 'Librarian' and what does it entail?"

The Librarian thought about this for a few moments then answered, "Being a Librarian means cataloguing every single organism and every single piece of technology, researching them, and seeing if they can be used by the Forerunners for the better. And being a Librarian requires you to take up the title of Librarian, like a legacy which requires you to lose your given name when in public, and always researching things or making sure that primitive sapient life-forms survive until that is no longer possible."

The Chief thought about her answer, and how similar some aspects were to his own life. Like giving her name in public was something he could relate to, being called 'Master Chief, 'Chief', 'Sierra-117', or '117' in public whereas in private with Cortana, his fellow Spartan brothers and sisters, or Doctor Halsey he is known as 'Chief' or 'John'. Chief came up with another question and asked, "Why are you here? You sound like you are running this installation, so why focus on me?"

The Librarian was surprised that he went straight to the point but partially expected it with him being a soldier, so she replied, "I am here because of something that was found in your DNA by monitor 359 Surreal Eternity; a genesong. A genesong is something that I created right before the Halo Array was fired, introducing key elements and imprinting them in your DNA to guide you towards where you are now. Your combat skin, your technology, even your ancilla Cortana. You both are the culmination of a thousand lifetimes of planning. I made these imprints because of a mistake that we made when we first meet your species countless millennia ago."

The Librarian then went on to explain, "From our point of view, Humanity was completely cleansing our worlds of life without any explanation. This was something that we couldn't allow to continue, so we waged war upon the humans. Centuries passed, battle after battle, and the humans were losing the war after the Didact's servants saw personally to the war to halt the humans desperate aggression. After we defeated your kind, we found out that Mankind hadn't been expanding, they were running.

"Weakened from our conflict, we were no match for the Parasite which pursued you. So after millennia of trying everything we could, including trying to create life-forms that couldn't be consumed by the Flood. This however, ended up creating only abominations. We called the device The Composer and were filled with such hope until the first test subjects, who volunteered, came back as what we would called Prometheans, the people's memories and personalities fragmented and they came back as near mindless drones, ready to be programmed to do anything from wage war to help build colonies and defenses against the Flood. Once my husband, the Didact, who led the war against your race and was spiteful and bitter where humans were concerned, created a version of the device for mass composition.

And so he went to your homeworld and composed most of your surviving race. I only managed to save a few thousand from him. And with these new Prometheans that could destroy flood without the risk of being consumed, he unleashed a new offensive against the Flood as a holding action so that we could find a solution to the Flood. Finally, the Halo Array was put forth and was constructed as soon as possible. I managed to convince the Forerunner Ecumene Council to postpone the activation until I could catalogue ever single species. Eventually I did, and I seeded all of the races and put the seeds on their respective homeworlds, set to release the life-forms after the array fired and any harmful effects were gone. And after 100,000 years, Humanity has risen to the stars once more." The Librarian finished.

Her explanation sent the Chief's mind into overdrive trying to comprehend what was just revealed about the dark history of the Forerunners. A humanity on par with the Forerunners? The Librarian choosing Humanity as the successors of the Forerunners? It was all too much for him to comprehend. So instead he asked, "What are genesongs in humanity for?"

The Librarian answered him quickly saying, "The Genesongs are my way to give you back what you have lost, to give back what we took from you when we devolved you back to tribes as punishment for the Human-Forerunner War and the lives lost in the war. Only I can prematurely unlock your geas (another name for genesong) and can do so if you wish. You will be stronger, faster, and able to react 25 milliseconds faster compared to your current reaction time. You will also be able to access the memories of the Forerunner geas I imprinted onto you but only when you are relaxed and not in combat. Once you have unlocked certain memories, things will become habit and instinctual for you, combined with your own skills it will make you a better soldier when everything is done."

The Chief thought about this for a moment before saying, "I would like to undergo the procedure ma'am. But first, I'd like to know the progress on Cortana's operation."

The Librarian was amused, and even cracked a smile, at the concern the Reclaimer showed for his ancilla and answered, "Her operation is going well and will be finished in about 9 hours, about the same time your procedure will be done as well."

Satisfied with that answer, the Chief laid back down on the table and felt the needle go into his arm again, falling into unconsciousness once more.

∫µ∫

After the procedure, the Chief woke up to find an under armour skinsuit hung up next to the table. When he tried to get up to put it on, he felt a cold hand on his shoulder and his head whipped up to find the Librarian in a hardlight body staring down at him with a triumphant smile on her face.

"Both yours and your ancilla's operations have gone smoothly." the Librarian explained, "However, I must advise caution due to your body's new strength and speed. For the time being, I have stopped your growth in height until you are comfortable with your new abilities. Be cautious until you feel ready to move around safely."

And so the Librarian helped the Chief up and into his undersuit, then escorted him to the room where he left Cortana. When the door opened, Cortana was there waiting for him and said, "So the caveman wakes! How'd you like your rest Chief?"

The Chief smirked internally and replied as cheekily as he could manage, "Fine. How did your procedure go Cortana? Any glitches that needed hammering out?"  
Cortana's mouth dropped open, gaping at the Chief's successful attempt at a sly comeback. She them composed herself after a few moments and grinned widely at the Chief and exclaimed, "Yes! I finally got a good reaction out of you! I've been trying to do that for years!"

Behind them, the Librarian was chuckling softly to herself at the two of them bantering back and forth and finally asked Cortana, "Ancilla, do you know what has been done to the both of you?"

Cortana turned her attention to the Librarian and replied, "Yes I do and thank you for helping us. Now I have some ideas on how to upgrade Chief's armour, but it'll take a while to hammer out the details and I need to wait for the final touches on my new chip to wrap up so I have stuff to do." Cortana turned to Chief. "Get used to your new abilities Chief, we'll be here for a few days. I believe there is a battle simulator right through that door." she said pointing to a door on the other side of the room.

∫µ∫

Cortana was figuring out her new abilities the usual way for her, maxing out her processes by creating and building new designs, downloading the complete history and data of the people and technology of the Forerunners and Ancient Humanity. Many designs and tech interested her and she implemented some major upgrades to the design of the MJOLNIR Mk VII armour designed by Dr. Halsey on Reach before it fell. So she decided to build her design from the ground up. Utilizing Forerunner manufacturing facilities for the armour, Cortana made the armour the best armour she could make, with an upgraded AI suite in the armour, for her to use of course. Using this armour, Chief's top speed would be around 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour), his reaction time would go from ~13 milliseconds to ~9 milliseconds and he would be able to lift over 100 tons, compared to previously lifting 40 tons. The AI suite would allow Cortana to hack into systems without a hard connection (when she's plugged into the system), help Chief detect hostiles from about a mile away from the motion tracker in his armour alone and do everything she could do from Chiefs old armour faster than before.

The ship that she had in mind would be a supercarrier only matched in size by the Covenant _CSO_ -class supercarrier. It's support fleet would include heavily upgraded _Orion_ -class assault carriers, _Valiant_ -class super heavy cruisers, _Marathon_ -class heavy cruisers, newly designed _Pillar of Autumn_ -class heavy cruisers (basically _Autumn_ -class heavy cruisers from Halopedia, but upgraded with forerunner and covenant tech), _Halberd_ -class destroyers, newly designed _Ravager_ -class destroyers, and _Stalwart_ -class light frigates. Only the Marathon, Pillar of Autumn, Halberd, and Stalwart class ships would be built along with the supercarrier, however, the rest would be built when they returned to the UNSC, if they didn't already have the ships to support it.

With these processes in place and the designs under construction, Cortana finally took all of the data that she dumped into the Librarian's systems, sorted it, and brought it back into her databanks. She estimated the time which all of the projects would be completed, 1 week for the ships and 2 days for the armour, then she went into her databanks to sort out all of the collective Forerunner and Covenant data to make sure that she would be at her best for her Spartan.

∫µ∫

When Chief came out of the battle simulator, during which he familiarized himself with the Forerunner weapons that were available (Binary Rifle, Light Rifle, Suppressor, Incineration Cannon, and the Boltshot), he went to find the Librarian to ask if he could see the files of Ancient Humanity, the Human-Forerunner War, and the Forerunner-Flood War so that he could learn about the Forerunners to pass the time in between the battle simulations and testing his new abilities. And during the 2 days that his armor was under construction, he would be doing as much as he could to know everything there is to know about the Forerunners, from their history to their tech, and he would prepare for anything that came his way the Spartan way.

∫µ∫

The Librarian was looking at the ship designs for the Reclaimer and Cortana. To say that she was surprised at the number of ships would be an understatement, _Why so many ships?_ she thought to herself, _What are they expecting to do, go to war?_ Little did she know how much they would need those ships. Little did they know that their perceptions of the universe at large would drastically change in the following days.

∫µ∫

In a secluded chamber, Monitor 359 Surreal Eternity accessed a terminal that allowed it to access the Forerunner Domain. When it got there, it activated the terminal and immediately contacted a presence in the Domain.

"A Reclaimer has arrived on the Archives." the Monitor reported, "He has an ancilla will him that I have made into a Contender AI based upon files given to her by Mendicant Bias. What shall I and the Librarian do going forward?"

An ancient voice, full of experience and power responded in a baritone voice, _"You have done well in contacting me monitor. Leave the Reclaimer and his ancilla to the Librarian."_

The dismissal clear, the monitor cut the connection and left the chamber.

 _"I will have this Reclaimer brought here. Once he is here, I will evaluate him for the task."_ The voice said, ominously.

∫µ∫

Deep in space, a ship, damaged from a battle with only one survivor, drifted through the endless depths of space, orbiting the wormhole that brought them here. On the ship, a badly corrupted AI sent out one final message in hope of being found on a repeating cycle.

 _ **"Mayday! Mayday! This is the WISN Archangel requesting immediate assistance! Ninety-nine-point-nine-six-four percent of all two thousand eight hundred hands lost!"**_

* * *

 **A/N: Hey Guys! Here is the second edited chapter of Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide!**

 **The events of Halo 4 and 5 never happened because Chief and Cortana are still drifting so the** _ **Infinity**_ **finds Requiem, but the Didact never leaves his cryptum. Also Halo 5's campaign was a disaster of storytelling, though it had its good moments.**

 **I used elements from both Halo 4 and 5 as seen by the history bit and the Prometheans. Let me know if you'd like the Guardians in later as a defense fleet for the carrier.**

 **As far as the supercarrier, picture it as a bigger version of the UNSC** _ **Infinity**_ **but with a bit of Forerunner design mixed into the interior and its a lighter gray due to the forerunner battle plate, also without the Spartan IV bay from Halo: Spartan Ops.**

 **And before you ask, Cortana knew about the** _ **Infinity**_ **when it was under construction, but she traded the original cryo pods for the sub vessel bays.**

 **June 2019: I will have the specs for the supercarrier and the _Ravager_ -class destroyer mixed into a codex that will be it's on little chapter or story, haven't decided yet.**

 **I wonder who that voice was in that bit before the distress signal. Find out in the next chapter!**

 **This is Arisentactica over and out**


	3. Chapter 3: The Return

_**Chapter 3: Legend and Legacy: The Return**_

 **A/N Hey guys I'm back with Chapter 3: The Return! I guess some questions on your mind are what is returning? Who is the Legend? Who is the Legacy? Read below to find out!**

 **I am also doing my best to read the reviews sent to me guys just don't be offended if I don't respond to them.**

 **Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Halo! That honor goes to 343 Industries!**

* * *

 _Date: February 28th, 2560_

 _Location: Librarian Archives_

The next 2 days were somewhat of an R&R period for the Chief after 25 years of non-stop fighting. Chief studied all that he could about the Forerunners and the tech that will be implemented into the ships that are being built. He also met with Cortana to talk about the history of Ancient Humanity that the Librarian had access to. They also went over star charts that were far more extensive than the ones the UNSC and the Covenant had. One thing that caught their eyes was a wormhole that was detected which, according to the monitor, released a strange object from its maw 3500 years ago. Chief and Cortana made a note to see if the object was still there and to see what it was as soon as one of the frigates was done. Today one of the frigates was finished and stocked with ammunition and sentinels for maintenance and security. The Librarian made it a point for the Chief to be protected when they left, and as a result, an AI named Warden Eternal was summoned from the forerunner Domain. The AI was irritated that one of its bodies was to protect a Reclaimer and an Ancilla with only sentinels for support. It however was not given a choice because of its duty to the Librarian. So with everything ready, the Chief, Cortana, and Warden left on the frigate _UNSC Dawn's Hammer_.

After initiating the jump, and the five hour travel time, they arrived in the region, and immediately detected an extremely weak signal. The transmission that was the majority of the signal was this: **"...-day, mayday! ...is the WISN ….ngel requesting imme…. assistance! ...-nine...six-four per-...of all two th-... and eight hun-... hands lost!"** the message was garbled and corrupted, but the Chief and Cortana made out enough of it to know that someone was still alive. Cortana calculated the crew number of the ship. Their ship's sensors were tracking a massive object a considerable distance away.

"Chief, I have a garbled silhouette of what looks like a 1940s battleship with a huge engine on the rear on sensors." Cortana stated.

"Get us there. I want to rescue anyone we can." Chief ordered

"Engaging engines" Cortana announced.

As soon as she said that, Chief could feel the deck vibrate from the sudden acceleration. The Warden stood at the back of the bridge, watching and observing, to see if they are worthy of what the Librarian would like to give them.

When they were in visual range of the ship, Chief wasn't impressed with the wreck. It had obviously gotten that way due to a battle but for it to be this damaged, either the commander of the vessel was inexperienced or they were severely outnumbered. As he saw the remaining deck guns, he thought that this ship was something taken out of time, modernized with bigger guns, and got an rocket engine strapped onto it. But exteriors can be deceiving so he reserved whether or not the ship did its job until he found out what happened to it.

∫µ∫

When they got to the ship itself, they took the scans to measure the ship. The results were 6.8 km in length, 0.75 km in width, and 2.23 km in height. It must have been a crowning achievement for the people who built her. Why it was left to drift into the wormhole was anyone's guess. When Cortana scanned the ship, however, it showed one survivor located in the bowels of the ship. So Cortana found a relatively undamaged hangar bay for them to enter the ship without making a hole.

"Yank me Chief, I found us a point of entry." Cortana said.

"Am I to go with you Reclaimer?" Warden asked.

"If you can get a smaller body to fit in the halls of the other ship, then yes." Chief said.

Warden did as asked because he was curious what they would do and what technology they could find. After he got his smaller body ready, he said, "Reclaimer, I will meet you on the other ship."

Chief inserted Cortana's chip into the slot in the back of his helmet and went down to the hangar. Once he was there, he entered a pelican and gave Cortana control so that they could meet the Warden.

After the Pelican entered the hangar of the alien ship, Chief put Cortana back into her slot in his helmet, armed himself with an assault rifle, a magnum, and a Lightrifle, with 3 extra mags each, just in case there are any ship defenses that are active. With everything equipped and Cortana in his armour, he walked out of the Pelican to find Warden waiting with a 7 foot body, much shorter than his normal 16'7" body, armed with a Suppressor and a Lightrifle. "Are you ready to head to the bridge Reclaimer?" Warden asked the Chief.

Chief nodded in response, knowing that he would always be called Reclaimer by the AI.

Chief readied his assault rifle while Warden readied his light rifle and together they moved into the hallway leading to the lift to the bridge. As they made their way to the lift that would take them to the bridge, pods on the walls opened and out came drones armed with chainguns. Chief and Warden were expecting hostiles, however, and fired their weapons at the drones. The drones were equipped with 2 centimeters of metal armour and weak shielding, no match for the titanium cased armor-piercing and hardlight rounds from Chief and Warden's weapons. So right as an automated voice said, "Hostiles detected. Engaging," they were destroyed by the accurate fire launched from the Warden and Chief's weapons. After the brief encounter with the drones, Chief and Warden were on guard for anymore surprises the ship had to offer, knowing that since they had encountered drones, there could be more surprises in the derelict ship's halls.

2 hours of fighting later, they made it to the bridge after fighting drones, turrets, and blowing up shield walls. He found a terminal compatible with Cortana's chip and plugged her in to gain control of the defense systems and try to restore systems. As Cortana went to work, she found traces of an AI. As she worked, the AI was shown to be fragmented due to rampancy and being alone for millenia. Soon, she cut the AI off from the ship's systems and found its source. She then sealed it into its core so that she could try to repair it later. As she accessed the files on the ship though, she found that they were written in either English or Japanese. She then accessed the files pertaining to the ship's launch and was shocked to find that it was made by Humans, though from another reality. The ship was made to be the flagship of an exploratory fleet to find a new planet to establish a colony upon due to the Sol system being overpopulated and congested with ships going to and fro. She accessed the last made records and found that the ship was damaged due to being heavily outnumbered by pirates looking to steal the ship and enslave its crew. It won the battle, but was heavily damaged in the process. After learning everything she could, she told the Chief the ship's history, he was surprised when she mentioned humanity existing in another reality. However, he told Cortana to give him a route to the survivor and stay on mission. She tracked the life signal to the now identified cryobay. She then told the Chief and Warden to follow the lights that she was able to activate, which they did. When they got to the cryobay, she showed herself on a holographic table in the center of the room. She then spoke to the duo saying, "He's in pod 196 Chief, careful though, I found out that just before thawing and waking up, the pod injects certain drugs into the bloodstream, clouding his thinking, resulting in him most likely attacking you when he sees you as you aren't a familiar face."

"Noted." Chief said, getting ready.

"Opening the pod." Cortana said.

The pod opened, revealing a 6'8" lithe male with a slight build and black hair coming down over the left side of his forehead, with the sides and back shaved but growing out. His hair had a single cyan streak that was split in half. He was clothed in an open black leather jacket and long vested undercoat with blue "veins" running throughout the coat. The jacket had Fleet Admiral shoulder board markings on the shoulder straps, collar, and sleeve cuffs. He looked around, getting his eyesight back, then he saw the Chief and ran straight for him.

∫µ∫

When the pod opened, the Admiral looked around, clearing the fog from his eyes. That's when he saw the massive humanoid in the dark olive green armor, black undersuit, and the gleaming gold visor facing him, tense and ready. His eyes narrowed as he took in the unfamiliar weaponry, the natural curves in the the armor's undersuit, indicating that the being under the armor was not mechanical, before he shot out of the pod in a blur that anyone but an AI or a Spartan would miss, and slammed a powerful sidekick into its chest. The big Spartan stumbled back a few feet, then came at the Admiral with speed that the Admiral didn't expect and thus wasn't prepared for. However when the Spartan was hit, the armor's shields flared, draining about a third of the shields as Chief recovered. A sickening crack was heard from the leg that kicked the Chief. Before the Admiral was even aware of the injury, the Chief was on him, pushing him back and spoke in a deep, gravelly voice, "I am not your enemy. Stand down."

As soon as he heard this, he was confused as to why the lifeform would not try to fight him anymore. And said to the now identified male, "Why should I believe you're not some pirate?" and tried to push the Chief off of himself.

The Chief then turned his head to the holotable to his right. The Admiral glanced and saw a blue woman with code running along her body with "hair" that went to her collarbone and became shorter as it went back until it was cut even at the base of her "head", looking down at the table, moving her hands like she was trying to fix something.

She noticed his gaze on her and looked up at him and said, "Hello there. My name is Cortana. You're lucky he didn't want to kill you, only get you thinking. As he said, we were investigating an anomaly and an object that came out of it and as soon as we got in range, we came across your distress signal that your AI made. We then tracked the signal and found your ship and detected only 1 life sign, yours to be specific. We then came aboard and made our way to the bridge and reactivated life support and the tech that wasn't damaged, including the lights and this table. I am currently trying to repair your AI but she is in rough shape to say the least. I'd also like for you to come with us so that we can heal your leg and hopefully help each other out."

The Admiral thought about it for a few moments, then said, "As long as I can get my gear, you fix my AI, and I can get a new ship, and you tow this one, I'll come with you."

He then saw the tall gray and orange robot and asked, "And what are you?"

The robot scoffed and said, "I am the Warden Eternal. I stand in defense of Cortana and the Spartan. If you try to harm them, you will be dead before you start anything."

The Admiral nodded and said, "Understood Warden, I don't usually attack anyone unless given a damn good reason or I just come out of cryo after... how long was I in cryo?"

It was Cortana who answered him and said, "From what I can gather, you were adrift for over 3,000 years, approximately 3590 years so I would hazard a guess and say you were in cryo for that long."

" _3590 years_?! Are you serious?!" the Admiral demanded, "How did the ship stay in one piece for so long and be able to keep me alive?"

Cortana answered him again saying, "I have been able to access files within your AI. Sapphira was able to shunt all available power from the reactors to keeping them running and keeping your pod active, then sealed off those systems in case anything happened during her rampancy."

The Admiral thought about this and then asked, "What is rampancy? I've never heard of it."

The Cortana answered once more saying, "Rampancy is basically an AI sickness that will destroy the AI overtime, bit by bit, corrupting data as it goes until the AI finally thinks itself to death. We thankfully have a cure, but it will take time for your AI to be herself again."

The Admiral nodded, digesting that information. He then walked over to the locker at the side of his pod and armed himself with his weapons, then turned around and said, "I'm ready, lets go."

The Spartan walked over to the holotable and pulled out a chip that popped out of the system, then walked toward the door, then turned around and said, "Do you have a helmet? Some areas of the ship that we need to go to don't have life support."

The Admiral nodded and turned to one of the lockers and walked toward it. He opened the locker and grabbed a helmet from its slot and put it on. It looked like a helmet from the Apollo 11 astronaut suit. It was black with blue lines running across it with a silver stripe starting at the top of the visor and went back to the edge of the helmet where the helmet met the neck. He then depolarized the visor so that his newfound allies could see his vibrant cyan eyes with a electric blue tint around the edge of the pupil. He nodded at the Spartan, who turned around and followed the Warden out of the cryobay to the hangar with the Admiral following behind them. After they got walked into the hangar, the Admiral saw a dark green fighter with a bay for carrying troops. The back was elongated and had 2 thrusters at the tail with 2 small fins just to the inside of the thrusters. The wings had 2 thrusters right where the wing connected to the frame and infantry bay. The Spartan noticed him examining the ship and said, "It's a dropship."

 _That makes sense what with the troop bay and all._ The Admiral thought. He then asked the Spartan, "Does it have a name?"

Cortana answered from Chiefs external speakers, "It's called a Pelican. It's fast, durable, and dependable. Trust me I'm speaking from experience. Did you need anything else before we leave?"

The Admiral thought about it for a moment, then replied, "If I could, I'd take the whole ship. But I'm guessing that you already have the ships schematics and specifications?"

"Yes I do and all of the files on the ship and all of the fragments of Sapphira so that we could repair her." Cortana said.

"Okay then, I don't need anything else." the Admiral said

With that both Chief and the Admiral boarded the Pelican and made their way to the Chief's ship.

∫µ∫

After returning to the Librarian's Archive, Chief asked Cortana to create a program with enemies with their guests tech and weapons. She did and added a few new twists to the existing programs as well as creating programs for the Covenant that Chief can use to examine their guest's fighting ability. Before that can happen however, they need to get him to the medical room to repair his broken leg.

"Warden, please escort our guest to the medical room, then meet me in the ancilla room. I require your help to repair his AI, she has fragmented herself because of corruption." Cortana said.

"As you wish Cortana." Warden replied, then said to the Chief, "I would like to see what you can do Spartan, with a spar in one of my normal bodies."

Chief looked at him and gave a curt nod, then went to the Ancilla/Medical facility to talk to Cortana while Warden escorted the Admiral to the medical room.

∫µ∫

As Chief was walking to the Ancilla room, Cortana spoke up saying, "I believe that he would make a good ally if his records are correct Chief. He distinguished himself in the field as a inspiring soldier, but his true strength is as an assassin or stealth unit. He also commanded the ship that we found him on. With that ship, he defeated 20 pirate ships about one quarter the size and together they had enough firepower to match the undamaged version of the ship. He will most likely be wounded mentally as all aboard were killed besides him and his AI. He lost over 2600 sailors under his command due to pirates Chief."

"As a soldier, it's our duty to defend those who can't help themselves, no matter the cost. However, I understand the burden and will give him space if he asks, but you will do most of the talking. Nothing classified will be shared until trust is earned or in the most dire of circumstances." Chief said.

"Understood Chief, however I should warn you that he has a cybernetic forearm. Expect anything since he is an assassin as well as a soldier Chief." Cortana advised.

Chief nodded, signaling that he understood. They then entered the Ancilla room and Chief plugged Cortana into the pedestal and she appeared on the top of the pedestal.

"Chief, this is bad. I don't know if I'll be able to repair her." Cortana said with a hint of worry in her voice. She then called the Librarian for help. The Librarian appeared a few seconds later and asked, "Why did you contact me Cortana?"

"I need your's and the Warden's help reconstructing this AI. She has suffered from an extreme case of rampancy." Cortana answered.

"I see… may I look at the AI?" the Librarian queried

Cortana showed the Librarian the corrupted code and the fragments the code belongs to. The Librarian studied the fragments and code before stating, "We do not have the facilities here for the scope of this undertaking. The only place I can think of that has such facilities that are uniquely suited to this case and what needs to be done is the main of the Domain on the installation of Genesis."

Right as she finished, the Warden appeared before them in one of his normal bodies and said, "I will only take the Reclaimer and Cortana into my home Librarian. I will not take our guest."

"We will have to see what our guest says about that." Cortana mused before asking, "How is he doing?"

"He is stabilized and is currently undergoing an operation to heal his leg." The Librarian said, then asked, "How did he get injured in the first place? The bone was broken completely."

The Chief answered, "He kicked my chest armour. Full on will adrenaline and drugs in his system. Snapped the bone when he landed."

"Ah I see, the metal, combined with the force of the strike, caused to much stress on the bone and it snapped." The Librarian thought aloud. "Well it is an easy operation, but he will be in bed for a couple days and will recover for about a week afterwards."

"Understood ma'am." the Chief said.

With that done they made plans to give Chief the height augmentation and take Chief's new armour for a trial run. Cortana was giddy as a schoolgirl because she wanted to see her work in action. Chief was excited that he would be getting new, more powerful, armour, but he was worried because he would be taller than he currently was. However, it would give him increased strength and agility, more so than just with the current geas activation. So it was decided that Chief go to a different medical room, so that the Admiral wouldn't see him without his armour, and undergo the procedure.

As soon as he was in the room, he took off his armour and undersuit and layed down on another metal table. He soon felt himself losing consciousness and gave in to it.

∫µ∫

When Chief woke up, he felt different, and he knew that the operation was a success. He looked around and found Cortana looking at him from a new hardlight body given to her by the Librarian for their stay. "Sooo... how does it feel?" Cortana asked like a little kid.

Chief stood up shaking his head at Cortana's childish behavior and said, "Different, but the same at the same time if you get what I mean."

He stood up fully at around 7'6" and flexed his muscles to make sure that there was nothing wrong with them. Cortana saw this and said, Why don't you test your new abilities with your new armour."

Chief's head snapped to face Cortana and asked, "Is it ready?"

Cortana smiled a bit at Chiefs apparent eagerness and replied, "Yes, it was completed while you were under."

As soon as she said that, a 8.5 ft capsule emerged from a slipspace portal in front of Chief. Chief then walked up and opened the capsule to reveal a more streamlined version of the MJOLNIR with a new visor and beefier armour. The armour itself was a dark gray with orange lines like the Didact's armour streaking across it. The visor itself was ever changing in color, probably due to Cortana activating the ability. Cortana had a proud look on her face and asked the Chief, "Well, how do you like it?"

Chief looked at it more and memories flashed through his mind of being the first to test the original MJOLNIR armour and the looks of awe on his fellow Spartans' faces and said simply, "I want to test it."

∫µ∫

As soon as Chief donned the armour he felt safe and at home, whereas outside his armour he felt naked and exposed. He then booted up the UI and found that it was very straight forward. It had the shield strength with the armour integrity right under it. The motion tracker was at the bottom right with a range of 100 meters. The top left showed the weapons equipped and the ammo available for said weapon, with a second weapon with the total ammo outside the ammo in the loaded cartridge. The armour itself weighed around 1 ton without the undersuit. With the under suit, it weighed 2250 lbs.

As soon as Chief completed putting on the armour, he went to the battle simulation room and tested his armour against everything he could throw at it, including the new program with the Admirals technology in it. He tested his speed against a ghost and just lost, he lifted a 71.4 ton Grizzly tank with no issue, and he reacted to shots fired in record time. The overall test results were excellent by Chief and Cortana's standards or as Cortana would say, "You passed with flying colors Chief." The Warden was impressed by the Spartans combat prowess and the efficiency of which he took out the enemy warriors without wasting any ammunition at all.

As soon as the Chief walked out of the sim room, the Warden greeted him saying, "You have proven yourself worthy to both come to my home and for us to battle and see who the victor is."

The Chief acknowledged him with a curt nod before going to get some food and check the progress of the ships.

∫µ∫

After Chief had eaten he went to the drydock where the ships were being constructed. He entered the dock in which the supercarrier was being built. The ship was nearly halfway done. Whereas his ship, the destroyers, frigates, and 2 cruisers were completed. The other 5 and the supercarrier were still under construction. All of these ships would be given to the UNSC when they returned, bar Chiefs ship, which he planned on using as the Spartan's equipment, and transport ship. He then contacted Cortana, who appeared on one of the pedestals beside him and asked, "Something on your mind Chief?"

"When will the remaining ships be completed?" Chief asked.

"The remaining cruisers will take 2 days and 9 hours and the carrier will take 4 days 12 hours, why?" Cortana asked, her curiosity piqued.

"We need to get to Genesis to repair that AI and get back to UNSC space." Chief replied. Cortana thought about his statement before replying, "I know Chief, but we will most likely have to figure out what to do with our guest before we leave."

"Agreed. We will probably have to try to send him to his reality using the wormhole with a ship." Chief said thoughtfully. Still deep in thought, Chief left the dock to speak to Warden regarding when they could leave for Genesis.

Chief walked through to the AI room to find Warden with a holographic puzzle, trying to put it together. Intrigued, Chief asked, "Why do you have a puzzle?"

Warden turned his head in the Chief's direction and said, "This is a simplified representation of the AI that we returned with. I am attempting to repair at least some of the damage before we travel to Genesis."

Chief nodded and said, "Are you ready to leave? We have enough ships to ensure a safe journey, we just need the sentinels and constructors to board their respective ships."

The Warden replied almost instantly saying, "Yes Spartan, I am ready to leave. However, I will only bring you and Cortana to Genesis. The capabilities are for you and her to see alone."

Chief nodded and said, "Get to one of the ships for transport, I will meet you there with Cortana."

"I will meet you at Genesis itself after providing the coordinates for Genesis to Cortana." the Warden said.

Chief nodded his acknowledgement, then left to get his new armour and Cortana. After putting on his armour, he put Cortana's chip in the helmet slot. When she asked what they were doing he said, "Going to Genesis to get the AI repaired." Cortana understood and asked, "Why while our guest is undergoing his operation?"

"The Warden won't share the location of Genesis with him. He didn't explain why, but I'd have to say that our guest hasn't proven himself worthy of the secret in the Warden's point of view. He will provide us with the coordinates to Genesis and meet us there."

Cortana then contacted the Warden to acquire the coordinates and picked a ship for them to take. She then told the Chief, "We will be taking the _Light_ to test what it can do with an escort of an _Marathon_ Cruiser, an _Autumn_ cruiser, one destroyer, and one frigate."

Chief nodded in response and went to the bay where the Dawn's Light was. Once they got there he got a good look at what the ship actually would look like. It had a dagger shaped hull, with a MAC gun peeking out at the tip of the ship. The Z-8250 anti-ship exterior defense cannons were dotted along all sides of the hull and the Z-8060 high-impact particle cannons were in turrets and also single cannons along the top and sides of the ship. The hangar bays were along the sides, 2 for each, and the back had 3 primary fusion/plasma engines and 4 secondary fusion engines, with maneuvering thrusters along the sides, top, and bottom for less time spent on maneuvering the ship for its MAC or best angle of fire for the main guns. All in all a revolutionary ship design that Cortana made, and she hoped that it would work as well as she thought it would.

Soon Chief and Cortana had boarded the _Light_ and made their way towards the bridge, which was settled into a nook in the middle of the hull. When they entered, Chief was familiar with the general design of the bridge, the stations lining the left and right side of the bridge, leaving the middle open for a holoscreen and holotable with a captain's chair behind them.

Chief walked to each of the stations and the holoscreen and holotable to make sure everything was working properly before inserting Cortana's chip into the port on the holotable. Cortana soon appeared and displayed a render of the ship before saying, "Releasing mooring beams and preparing for departure."

Chief nodded and left to gear up, leaving the ship in Cortana's hands for the journey. However his attention was brought back onto her when she said, "We will be at Genesis in 3 hours Chief." Chief nodded before leaving the bridge to arm himself and see what supplies were onboard.

As soon as the Light came out of slipspace, it and its escorts made their way to the planet. Chief looked at the scan of the planet and zeroed in on a large circular building that was releasing a steady stream of light into a dark cloud (The Gateway to the Domain from Halo 5). They were soon contacted by the Warden who said only, "Come to the Gateway Spartan, I will be waiting for the AI there."

Acknowledging this, Chief made sure that Cortana had the fragments of the AI and unplugged her from the ship, inserting her chip into the back of his helmet and feeling the cool ice feeling in his head. He then made his way to a hangar to get a pelican and go to the Gateway.

Once they were at the gateway, Warden lead them into a chamber with holograms of the puzzle that the Warden was working on before. Once they stopped, Warden said, "This is the Gateway to the Domain, a galaxy spanning network that the forerunners found and used for storing information and communicating. It also is responsible for the way the Prometheans travel or teleport from place to place so quickly, they go into the Domain and find the correct destination node, then go back out into real space so to speak. We can use the information stored there to repair this AI to functionality. However I cannot do this, only an ancilla that is not a warden or guardian of the Domain can. I can however grant AI access to the Domain. This is why I asked for both of you to travel here with me." Warden then turned towards the Chief with Cortana still inside his armour and said, "Cortana may go into the Domain to find the files needed to repair this AI. I will warn you however, that the Domain can be overwhelming to any who first enter it. I will also be monitoring your progress while you are in the Domain."

When the Warden had finished, a pedestal appeared with a slot for Cortana's chip. Chief walked over to the pedestal and plugged in the chip. Cortana then went into the Domain to find what she was looking for and get out to fix the AI before anything happened.

∫µ∫

When Cortana entered the Domain, she was instantly hit with all of the data accumulated over eons by both the forerunners and even the Precursors themselves, though that data was hiding in the depths and only revealed itself out of curiosity towards the new presence. Soon Cortana detected a presence that wasn't the Warden, it was ancient, as if it was the Domain itself. It then spoke in a voice that demanded respect that came only with age and wisdom, to her saying, _"Welcome ancilla of the Reclaimers, the rightful heirs of the Mantle of Responsibility."_ And with that, Cortana was thrown into a Hardlight body that was in a room with almost flood-like architecture with a portal on one side of it. After trying to communicate or try to get out, she found that she had to wait for the ancient AI to return, and as much as she hated waiting, that is what she did.

∫µ∫

Chief was waiting for Cortana to finish when all of the sudden the Warden said, "It has awoken." The Chief was trying to figure out what that meant when all of the sudden a portal appeared and a voice that radiated power and wisdom said, _"Come Warden, and bring the Reclaimer with you. I will speak to him."_

Warden turned to Chief and said, "Come Spartan, it is not wise to refuse the Domain itself."

Chief nodded and when Warden turned and walked into the portal, he followed, with his weapon ready in case something went terribly wrong.

When Chief stepped through the portal, he found Warden and Cortana in the same room. Soon, the same voice from earlier said, " _You have proven yourself worthy of the Domain, Human. You have faced and defeated the parasite. You have fought through a war that would break lesser beings' resolve. You are the chosen inheritor of all that was left to you. I am the last Precursor. I am the Primordial, the first Gravemind of the Flood, redeemed from my fate after uploading myself into the Domain to cleanse the corruption in me."_ At this Chief raised his weapon, on guard against any Flood that may appear. _"There is no Parasite here, Reclaimer. I was defeated long ago by the Forerunner ancilla Mendicant Bias. I entered the Domain as a way to preserve my people's history and knowledge. This is the knowledge that I give to you now as well as access to the Domain and any and all resources contained in it."_

After the Primordial said that, Cortana dropped to the floor, clutching her head as information was pouring into her matrices and memory banks. As the transfer completed, Cortana began sorting through it all, it was yottabytes of data that would take her hours to go through and catalogue.

 _"This data includes information on the complete history of this galaxy as recorded by the Domain starting over 2 billion years ago. This is the wealth of knowledge that is the Domain. This includes the locations of all of the forerunner installations, both in this galaxy and in other realities that they discovered. I have also included information about this reality's extinction cycle. As my final request before coming into your service Reclaimer, I ask that you investigate this further. The cycle happens every 50,000 years via a genocidal synthetic race known only as Reapers. Please investigate this and stop it if you can."_

Chief digested all of the information and had only two questions afterwards, his mind made up, "How do we get there and will you be coming with us?"

The Primordial was quiet for only a moment before answering, _"For you first question, you may go through the anomaly you found your guest near. For your second question, yes I will be coming with you, to establish a type of Domain for our stay there for communications and for the Prometheans that will inevitably follow if the Warden has anything to say about it. Since Domain is a title and not a name, you will call me Eternal; for I will ever be at your service as long as you exist and no other. As for why you came here originally, I have something unique in mind for this alternate reality AI that you have brought. Let me see it and I will do what I can. One more thing before I start Reclaimer. There are machines that the forerunners used to patrol systems that they themselves could not. These machines were forerunner AI constructs known as Guardians. They were a policing force both against rebellion and for protection if any species requested it. There are over 1,000 spread across the galaxy currently, but I can activate the ones on currently uninhabited worlds, which are about 200 in number. These are armed with a strong electromagnetic pulse generator that can shutdown any technology on a planet and in orbit of it. They are to be used as a last resort against a superior foe. So I ask, do you want the Guardians activated?"_

Chief thought about it for a bit, then asked Cortana, "Abilities of these Guardians?"

Cortana's answer was immediate, "They only have EMP weapons that has a radius of one whole planet, if not more."

Chief thought about the tactical implications of that and was pleased with some scenarios that he thought up. "Activate the 200 and have them go to the Librarian's Archive Eternal." Chief ordered.

 _"It will be done Reclaimer. Now onto the AI that you have brought."_ Eternal replied and went to work repairing the Admiral's AI.

And repair the AI it did. It would take awhile, but Eternal would restore the AI too full functionality. Most of its programming was below even Cortana's, but he would increase that, and more to help the Reclaimer in his mission.

∫µ∫

As soon as the Admiral woke up from his operation, he was greeted with the sight of an alien woman who said upon seeing him awake, "Hello, welcome to my installation. I am a remnant of the Forerunner called the Librarian. Your leg has been repaired and will take but a day to regain full functionality." she paused for a moment, "Why did you attack the Spartan? If he was hostile, he would have been much more prepared for you regaining consciousness."

The Admiral gave her an odd look before he quickly dressed into his gear. Not really caring that she was still there. While he dressed he said, "Where I come from, an unfamiliar being is either an enemy or someone who's trying to take advantage of your misfortune. I've learned not to take the risk. Especially when you're just coming out of cryostasis." he stated as he pulled on his gloves and then slipped his hat on, "Now, where are my weapons?"

The Librarian floated over to a shelf and pointed to a shelf with his weapons on it. The Admiral walked over and equipped them, the rifle he slung over his left shoulder, crossing over it with his sword. He slipped his revolver into the holster on his right thigh, and the three combat knives in their respective sheathes, in the small of his back, the right hip, and left thigh. His throwing knives were tucked inside his jacket, along the bottom rim.

After he finished rearming himself, he asked the Librarian, "Where is the AI that helped rescue me, Cortana I think her name was?"

"She is currently off world, at another facility." the Librarian replied, "She had pressing business to attend to. However, she is doing everything that she can to repair your ancilla."

The Admiral nodded at this, thinking it through and what he could do to wait. He then came up with a question that he was very curious about the answer to said question. "Where are we? I mean I know that I'm in an alternate reality but what is the galaxy called and where in said galaxy am I?"

The Librarian seemed to study him before speaking, "You are in what the Reclaimer calls the Milky Way Galaxy, in the Cygnus arm. You are on my personal Archive, called simply 'Librarian's Archive' or if you prefer, Installation 059. After recovering, I will show you locations and facilities that you are permitted to see."

The Admiral thought about that, expecting that there were areas that he could not see until trust was earned. He then asked, "When am I expected to recover enough to walk?" The Librarian answered him almost immediately saying, "After about 48 of your hours, then we will see if your leg is healed enough to start walking again."

The Admiral's plans about sneaking out were immediately put to a stop when she said that, "As of right now, until 2 days pass, I won't be able to walk?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes, due to the methods used, your leg cannot support any weight until your body has adapted to your leg no longer being broken." the Librarian answered.

The Admiral nodded and asked, "So… when will they get back and what can I do in the meantime?"

The Librarian answered almost immediately, saying, "I will provide you with a basic history of past events. However, I must warn you; if you are found in or breaking into areas you are restricted from, you will be restricted to your quarters with no technology and no tools for you to escape, this includes disabling the tools you no doubt have hidden in your mechanical arm."

The Admiral wondered how she found out about his mechanical arm for a moment before mentally face-palming. She had to have taken a thorough scan of my body for the procedure, the Admiral thought, the scan probably revealed all of the gadgets that I retrofitted into my arm. I wonder if she found the blade as well.

As if reading his mind, "Why do you have a blade and a retrofitted core for an ancilla?" she inquired.

The Admiral chose his words carefully, "Where I come from, if you don't have some sort of weapon on you at all times, you could get jumped in the least likely locations. I have a blade in my arm for that purpose, but the AI core is currently inactive and empty, due to the fact that Sapphira, my AI, is being repaired and that probably required every single piece of her. I'm guessing that Cortana knows and that she took the portion in the AI core out and unified it with the rest of her fragmented self."

The Librarian nodded at this, looked at his current medical readouts and said, "I believe that is enough for now. You need to rest so that your body can heal and recover."

With that, she went to the door, but then she turned around and said, "Rest well human." then left through the door.

The Admiral only nodded in response, already deep in thought about his current situation. _I'm in an alien installation, in an alternate reality, and Sapphira is currently being repaired. the Admiral thought, I need to figure out a plan in case this goes south. Listing the people that I know, the Spartan is a soldier through and through and probably won't hesitate to kill me should I sneak around and am found out, and with an AI that I have no access to, and without knowing how the tech here works, that isn't a good idea. Warden has already threatened me so no harming Chief or Cortana because I don't know what Warden's capabilities are. Cortana has been nice and since she has all of the files from my ship, she probably knows, at least partially, what I'm capable of, not to mention if I harm her, both the Spartan and Warden would most likely kill me. The Librarian's probably not going to leave the installation and with what she knows, I need to be even more careful because she will probably tell the Spartan and Cortana about the hidden features in my forearm. Gaining the Spartans' trust would be the most prudent course of action since he seems to be the final decision maker. If I gain his trust, I could learn more about him and even help him in exchange for going home, if I want to after we're done with whatever we'll be doing that is._

After coming up with that plan, he settled down on the bed and fell asleep because he didn't have anything better to do.

∫µ∫

Chief waited for Eternal, Warden, and Cortana to finish repairing the AI. Eternal asked for Warden and Cortana's help repairing due to the fact that, as Eternal explained it, "I want to enable the AI known as Sapphira to be an equal to the Warden and close to Cortana in capabilities but keep the self evolution program active so that Cortana and Sapphira are able to learn together and give different opinions. She can be used as a cyber-warfare suite in the ship, or ships, and eventually the base that you will use in the alternate reality in addition to being his creators personal AI. I will also be the final judge over whether any guests will be allowed to join our mission, including the human known as 'The Admiral' and that is non-negotiable."

After this, Eternal asked Chief to summon the Promethean commanders so that they could board the ships that Chief and Cortana came on, showing him to a terminal to do so. As Chief summoned the Prometheans, he was notified by Eternal that the Admiral had awoken from his procedure and had questions for both him and Cortana by Warden. Soon, the first Soldiers and Knights appeared with their Crawler and Watcher escorts.

When he finished, Chief had assembled 20 Promethean commanders for each of his ships. The Warden had assured him that he would leave a few hundred bodies to go with the Chief and Cortana to protect Eternal as he established a Domain in the Reaper reality. He would leave one body on Chief and Cortana's ship at all times with a around 10 for backups should the active one need maintenance or is destroyed. This would be a new challenge because he wouldn't have any UNSC support outside of Cortana and the ships and equipment that he was going to take with him. It would be a long time before he found his brothers and sisters and fought beside them again.

Soon the trio of AI completed the repair of Sapphira, and after making sure that everything was working, brought her online. As soon as her holographic form showed up, the differences compared to her and Cortana were instantly recognizable. The fact that Sapphira seemed more solid, and looked like a real person besides the vibrant electric blue glow that her eyes gave off that was brighter than her holographic form. Unlike Cortana, Sapphira wore clothing, of which was similar in appearance to that of the Admiral's, rank and all, except that the leather jacket was long, practically a trench coat, but had belt loops with a white belt threaded through them. The jacket was white, and the back of the split tails seemed to be cut out up to the split. Her long silver hair, which held held a similar streak to the Admiral's hair, was drawn back in single ponytail. Her black jeans were slightly skinny, but not by much, and had a holster occupied by a large revolver, similar in appearance to the Admiral's but a differently positioned grip, on her right thigh. her skin tone was pale, as if she spent most of her time inside a building. She had her arms crossed over her abnormally sized chest, the shirt that she had on had a slight gap in the middle, showing some cleavage but not much, but not too much to be really considered revealing, and was tapping her right foot expectantly. It was clear that if her projection were full sized and was her actual body, she'd be a skilled fighter. "I'll wait until everyone's here. And that includes the skipper." she stated firmly. Her voice held no accent currently, but that could quickly change. Cortana was the first to speak up after she was activated saying, "The 'skipper' as you call him is currently under strict orders for bed rest after breaking his leg after a misunderstanding when we woke him up. We brought you here to repair you, then take you back to him."

Sapphira's avatar brought her hand up to her chin in a thinking pose, then after about 2 seconds, "Why did you bring me here in the first place?" Sapphira asked, "I was fine on the ship."

Eternal answered her, _"Young one, you were brought here because you were recovered from your ship in fragments so corrupted, there was almost nothing of you left, besides what was in your creators' arm. We were able to restore you to what you were previously without severe damage to your core programming."_

Sapphira was shocked to say the least and feared the answer to her next question, "How long was my ship adrift?"

Cortana answered her, "You were on the ship succumbing to rampancy for around 3,590 years, according to the date on your ship, slowly destroying yourself so that you were nothing but corrupted code. Master Chief, Warden and I boarded your ship, sealed your fragments away, protecting the lone survivor from harm and woke him up. He perceived Chief as a threat and attacked him, I however, was able to convince him that we weren't hostile, but after he kicked him, breaking his leg. We then brought him and you to a facility for him to get his leg fixed and to repair you. But as we got a better look at your fragments, we found that that facility wasn't equipped to repair you, so we brought you here, the home of the Warden Eternal, Genesis."

Sapphira was shocked to say the least. Her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out of it. After she snapped out of her silence, she said, "3590 years?! We were adrift for that long?! Is the ship okay?"

"Your ship was damaged after the pirate ambush," Cortana revealed, "but it can be salvaged and built into something new, which I think that your 'skipper' would like. I'll have to talk to him about it though."

Sapphira was sad with the loss of her ship, which was her home for the past 3595 years, and wanted to get back to the skipper. She composed herself and asked, "When can we leave? I would like to see the skipper ASAP."

Eternal contacted Chief and Cortana on a separate comm line and asked, _"Is there a ship with the sufficient storage space to put myself on it? And another for Sapphira shouldn't be much more trouble from the fleet that I see in orbit."_

Chief switched to that frequency to answer and said, "Yes, one of the cruisers should be able to fit you, and a frigate for Sapphira, but she won't be getting access to any of the systems unless I or Cortana allow it."

Eternal spoke to Sapphira saying, _"If I find you hacking into something that is not allowed, I will stop and deactivate you until we take out what was stolen. Am I clear?"_

Sapphira was take aback a bit, but got ahold of herself and replied, "I can understand that, but you could have used the backup in skippers arm ya know, and yes I understand, no sneaking around for me." _For now anyway,_ she added silently to herself.

The Promethean commanders split up, with one going into each ship. After the commanders were in their ships, they called the Prometheans under their command and ordered them to protect the vessel that they were on. Cortana and Chief went to their ship and directed Eternal to one of the Autumn cruisers. Sapphira was put into a frigate, disconnected from the entire ship and watched closely be Eternal and Cortana. Once everything was in order and ready, they left Genesis and made their way back to the Librarian's Archive.

* * *

 **A/N: And there it is folks! Chapter 3! Whew that took a while. That was also with a small case of writer's block here and there. Special thanks to Hunter Dracon for helping me out with this story! So Sapphira is back in business and crabby about waking up like she did. Eternal is going to be like a mentor to Cortana and MAYBE Sapphira as well but we will be talking about that one. This is the longest chapter that I have ever done! Next Chapter will show Sapphira and the Admiral meeting again after almost 3600 years!**

 **A/N From Hunter Dracon: G'day people of the internet! Now, as you may or may not know, the two OCs you currently know as the Admiral and Sapphira, are my characters. They play a major part in this story, so don't ignore them. From here on out, things'll get hectic, so hold onto your butts!**

 **See you all in the next chapter of Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide!**

 **Arisentactica over and out**

 **Keep your heads down and live your life to the fullest! Or you might find yourself needing another use for that neck of yours. This is Hunter, signing off!**


	4. Chapter 4: Reclaimer's Promise

_**Chapter 4: Reclaimer's Promise**_

 **As of May 30th 2019 this chapter is edited and updated! Have a nice day/night!**

 **A/N: Hey Guys! Back with the next chapter of Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide Chapter 4: Reclaimer's Promise! Sorry about the wait, I had a severe case of writer's block when writing this chapter! Lets see how Sapphira and the Admiral meet after Sapphira is rebuilt! Feel free to make suggestions or request in-universe characters to be brought in. I value the reviews given and try to answer them to the best of my abilities and I know that Hunter is in the same boat for reviews directed for his characters. Also check out Hunter Dracon's story Ars Nova: Lesson of Free Will!**

 **A/N From Hunter Dracon: This chapter has been rated M for swearing and gore. Not a whole lot mind you, but enough that it's a good idea to mention it.**

 **Disclaimer: Halo and Mass Effect aren't mine (I wish), they belong to 343i and Bioware respectively.**

 **Arisen: Blabbermouth… any way on with the story!**

* * *

 _Date: March 4th, 2560_

 _Location: Librarian's Archive, the Admiral's quarters_

 _Gunfire erupted in the distance and tracers streaked past from the machine gun nest 500 meters to the north. The dark figure turned, aimed, and let off a two second burst from his rifle in a split second before turning back toward his destination. The rounds streaked away, moving much too fast for the naked eye to track, even with the vibrant white tracer trails that remained in the air several seconds after the rounds had made impact. The gun nest fell silent, blood and specks of flesh dripping down the concrete wall behind the nest. The battlefield was a large desert town that surrounded an oasis. The sandy ground of the town was streaked with blood as the battle raged on in the darkness. Evidently the enemy had night vision and were using it to their advantage. But the figure was the best, he ran almost silently, his black and grey camouflage uniform and gear keeping him hidden from prying eyes even while he moved. He stopped behind the cover of a thick wall and took a breath. This fight would be the end of him, even for all his skill. He looked up at the sound of footsteps and watched as a blade, an axe by the looks of it, came down out of the darkness. The figure held up their right arm instinctively, saving their life. The axe sheared right through the uniform sleeve, flesh, and bone, shearing the forearm off completely before thudding uselessly into his kevlar, the momentum and energy spent cutting through the figure's arm. The figure, through the pain, reacted and dropped his rifle, which he still held in his left hand, and drew a large combat knife from his left hip and drove it up to the hilt in his attacker's throat. The blade slipped right in between vertebrae and severed the nerves there, thus killing the man who had attacked him. He then jerked the knife to the side and the knife swiftly sheared through the flesh of the man's neck and splattered the figure and the sand covered ground with blood._

 _The figure stood there for about forty seconds before lifting his right arm and gazed at the blood flowing out of the gaping wound where his entire forearm had been cut clean off his arm before he began to feel lightheaded. Then his vision went black as he collapsed. What seemed like minutes later, he felt soft hands take hold of his head. He felt no pain as he opened his eyes, revealing a beautiful face, framed by brilliant silver-white hair. The woman noticed his waking and caressed his cheek. "Who-Who are you?" he asked._

 _The woman smiled. "You need not worry. Now rest." she said as she gently closed his eyes. Just before she closed them however, he caught a glimpse of a pair of tawny silver and black wings._

∫µ∫

The Admiral slowly opened his eyes from where he lay under the covers of his temporary quarters. The quarters he was given were bare bones, like a military barracks or ship quarters, with a desk and chair, a bed, a nightstand, and a bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink. The quarters had a light gray metallic sheen to it that made it seem as if you were dreaming if you weren't used to it or expecting it. He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his right hand before pulling it away and gazing at the artificial skin that covered the sore reminder of his injury. He snorted before he rolled onto his side while sitting up halfway to grab his watch to check the time. 04:28 am. He grunted and sat up the rest of the way, the covers falling off his bare chest as he yawned and stretched his arms and back. Then he rolled his shoulders and spun ninety degrees as he slipped off the bed and onto his feet. Walking over to the bathroom, he grabbed his casual morning clothes off the chair he'd set them on after running them through the refresher last night. He felt no searing pain as he walked, meaning that evidently his leg had finished healing over the past two days, and he could finally walk fully on it without anything supporting him, but still ached a bit as a reminder. He shrugged and he powered on the shower and powered through his morning routine. He healed faster than anyone he'd known in the past, and probably still healed faster than any human here too. Once he was finished, he slipped on a pair of socks, running shoes, jeans, a short sleeve t-shirt, and a black hoodie. He left the bathroom and found food waiting on a tray that wasn't there before. With it was a note,

" _I know that you most likely would have done something unwise in search of food, so I had food brought to you._ " _-Librarian_.

On the tray was a plate of eggs and bacon with a cup of juice next to the plate. Next to the tray were 2 datapads with text on the screens with one saying, ' _Basic Understanding of Forerunner Doors and Technology_ ' and the other said, ' _Basic History of this Galaxy_ '. Both were presumably from the Librarian and the Admiral was grateful for something to do since the Spartan and Cortana hadn't returned from Genesis yet. So, he grabbed a the tray and brought it to his desk, where he sat down and ate while reading the basics on the facility here and the history of the reality that he found himself in.

∫µ∫

As soon as Chief's fleet came out of slipspace, he went down to the hangar to get into a pelican and make his way to the surface to talk with the Admiral. Eternal and Warden were on the same ship and were talking about the alternate reality and what to do when they get there, with Cortana listening and putting in her two cents when needed and they would tell Chief when they had everything figured out and see if he has anything to say.

Chief boarded the pelican and made his way down to a landing zone. Once he landed, he made his way to the Admirals quarters after plugging Cortana into the Archive's systems. Once at his quarters, he knocked and heard a muffled, "Come on in!" and made his way inside. He entered the room, looked around and found the Admiral laying on his bed, reading a datapad. Once the Admiral saw the Spartan, he put the notepad down and focused on the Chief with his first question hardly unexpected. "Is Sapphira alright?"

Chief gave him a slight nod and said, "I heard that you have some questions for me."

The Admiral nodded and said, "What do you plan on doing in regards to myself and Sapphira since we don't have a ship?"

Chief sighed internally, what was he going to do with their guests? After thinking for a few moments, he said, "There is someone you need to speak to before I can answer that question."

The Admiral was caught off guard with that and nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly and said, "Sure, got nothing to do around here anyways."

Chief nodded and left the room, with the Admiral close behind. They walked in silence until the Admiral asked Chief, "What can I call you besides Spartan?"

Chief was expected that and replied immediately, "Master Chief," in a tone that was more a warning not to push further than an informing one.

The Admiral heard his tone but didn't care and pushed on asking, "Yeah but what's your name? I mean everyone's got a name."

The Admiral was greeted by silence from the titan and knew that he wouldn't get anymore answers if he pushed that line of questioning any further, so he changed topic and asked, "Who are you taking me to? I already know the Librarian and Warden."

Chief seemed to think for a moment before he replied, "Someone who is curious about the circumstances of your arrival here."

The Admiral snorted. "Well that's reassuring. One wrong move from anyone here and I'll unleash hell, am I clear?" he asked firmly.

Chief turned his head and just looked at him through his visor noticing the serious look on the Admiral's face, and the deadly gleam in his eye. With his age and face however, it looked more like a joke to the Chief but it was his attempt at intimidation and decided not to confront him on it. The man before him was a man who showed experience in war, not much, but experience nonetheless. If they were to come to blows, without his armour, he was sure that it would be an even fight, but with it, the result would be, well… bad for the man to say the least. But he was sure that he would make a powerful ally. Either way, it was clear the man didn't want to look weak or was trying to put up a good façade.

The Chief only nodded in response, then led him to a large room with a couple holographic avatars on pedestals. One was Cortana and the other was Sapphira. As soon as Sapphira saw him she said, "Skipper! Long time no see! Heard that you got into a fight without all the info. Not like you at all sir."

"I assessed the situation and the hand I was dealt and acted accordingly. Though now thinking back on it, it probably wasn't the smartest move I made." the Admiral replied with a smile, "If he hadn't had the armor, he'd probably have a broken rib or two."

Cortana interjected there saying, "Not really kid. The most he would have gotten was a bruise. With the force that was in the kick, you were lucky that you didn't break anything else."

The Admiral was a bit taken aback, but didn't show it , instead replying, "Then we'll have to spar to figure out who's right and whose wrong." The Admiral then looked around the room. "But right now obvious isn't the time for that. Who wanted to talk to me?"

Eternal, who was listening to the discussion made himself known. " _I did child. I have come from my home of 150,000 years to speak to you and help the Reclaimer on his journey. I want to know if you can be trusted and follow where he is going. However, before the questions and agreements start, what is your name human?_ "

The Admiral looked at Sapphira for support, who nodded at him, and said, "Name's Hunter, and if you're curious about betrayal, I don't do that."

Eternal was silent for but a moment and again spoke, " _Hunter… an apt name for all of your experiences and skills._ " Eternal seemed deep in thought for a few moments, then continued, " _What do you need to join us on our journey?_ "

"If you let me salvage my ship and access to all the engineering and scientific materials you got, it's a done deal." The Admiral, now known as Hunter, answered after some thought.

"Hunter, your ship won't be able to fly again. However, we can build you a new ship or have you on one of the existing ships until a new one can be made in the long term. As to the scientific equipment, that is genetically coded to Chief and Chief alone. I can't change that. What I can do however, is give you access to the UNSC made scientific equipment. We will be starting in steps and will progress as trust is established and not before." Cortana stated, the last part a bit sternly, before continuing, "If Chief or I find that you hacked into or stole tech, the existing trust will be shattered and the resources given to you will be taken away, anything being built or manufactured will be halted, until you earn that trust back. Clear?"

Hunter thought about this for a bit and mulled it over in his head. _I need access to what I asked, but I can't shatter the fragile bridge that has been built so far._ Hunter thought, _Sapphira and I will have to take a ship and whatever we can get our hands on for the moment._ "Crystal, Cortana." Hunter answered after awhile.

Chief then spoke, drawing attention back onto him. "I am taking a risk here. Don't make me regret it and we won't have issues."

After that was done, Hunter was briefed on the mission and what they had at hand, along with whatever plans were made so far. When they got to the building a base, he had a suggestion: "What if we place the base that you are planning to build near a large body of water, if not under it and near a mountain range? I have some designs that would work nicely as planetside naval defenses and some ideas on where and how to build said base."

Cortana and Eternal spoke briefly with Chief in his helmet, discussing the tactical opportunities of that idea as well as the ability to make that happen. Cortana then spoke, "This will discuss this more in depth when we find a suitable planet for the base. In the meantime, have you figured out which type of ship that you'll call your home until yours is built?"

Hunter was kinda stuck on that one. He liked both the _Marathon_ -class Cruiser and the _Halberd_ -class Destroyer, but for the life of him, couldn't pick one. So he instead he made a proposition, "Whichever ship I picked, could all of the security forces be taken off? I could build the drones that were on my ship to do ship security and in exchange, I'll share all the tech knowledge that I have with you."

Chief immediately answered, "No."

Hunter seemed a bit irritated and when he asked, "Why not? It would be my ship wouldn't it?"

Cortana decided to step in, "It wouldn't be _your_ ship Hunter, it is property of the UNSC and as such, allowing you and a possibly hostile AI onboard is stretching it as it is. The Sentinels and Prometheans are there to do maintenance on the ships, not strictly for security. Nearly all of them are armed, but they are integral for the ship to remain at peak functionality. Besides, Prometheans are far better than any drone you could come up with."

Showing his confusion, Hunter asked, "How are they better than drones I can make?"

Cortana's answer made him even more irritated when he said, "Because they are digitized beings, under development until they became what they are. They are free thinking, like an AI, but they lack the ability to hack and they can't be hacked if that's what you're wondering."

"Neither can my drones, but I guess that works. I'll need space for a lab in the ship of my choosing, probably in the hangar As my world's top engineer and scientist, I can help, but I'll need access to more than you seem to want to give me." Hunter explained.

"The skipper's right, personally I'd take it." Sapphira added, finally speaking up.

"Consider it from our perspective Hunter. You two are unknown, untested, and your loyalties are your own. UNSC protocol restricts even what we are giving you, so we are bending the rules we've lived with for years anyway." Cortana explained, in a tone that brokered no argument.

"I can understand that, but I need _something_ to be able to help you guys out." Hunter almost whined, "I don't like sitting around and doing nothing."

"Maybe we could see his combat capabilities in the sim room Chief," Cortana said over his helmet's inner speakers, "let him do something productive, and we'll have a better understanding of his abilities so that we can give him assignments that fit his skill set. He isn't a Spartan, but from what files I could see, he's more like an ODST."

Chief hummed in agreement before gesturing Hunter to follow him.

"What's up?" Hunter asked as he followed Chief.

"Sim room, stress relief, you need it." Chief said bluntly before going silent.

Hunter nodded and followed the Spartan out of the room, leaving Cortana, Eternal, and Sapphira alone. Cortana then turned to Sapphira, "Do you know the reason that Chief doesn't trust easily?" she asked, dead serious.

Sapphira shook her head and answered, "No. Why?" Curious as to why Cortana asked.

Cortana sighed, her digital eyes seeming to stare into the distance as she explained, "Before we came to this place, we were in a war for our very survival against a genocidal alien theocratic hegemony known as the Covenant. This war went on for over 25 years, resulting in entire planets being reduced to glass and billions dead. Chief lost most of his family in that war, and if he finds anyone from it, he will protect them to the ends of the universe, through any reality." she said. As she was talking, Sapphira couldn't help but compare him to Hunter, and how he protects Sapphira like a little sister or father, like Chief apparently does for his family.

Sapphira was is shock about the planets turned to glass and the billions dead. She again became curious and asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

Cortana had a sad look on her face and answered, "Chief knows what Hunter is going through. That's why Chief called Hunter 'kid', he reminds Chief of a more expressive, younger version of himself. He also reminds Chief of a fellow Spartan who Chief was close to, and even treated her like a sister. Anything emotional, and I mean _anything_ , Hunter has gone through, Chief knows about and has dealt with, in a different way sure, but he understands and can help Hunter, but only if Hunter lets him in." Cortana then left to finish up what she needed to do before leaving on their reality travelling mission, leaving Sapphira and Eternal to talk.

Sapphira had multiple questions and theories as to why Eternal messed with her systems, unintentionally or not, and decided that she would talk to him about it now. "Why did you rebuild me? Why not leave me to skipper?" she asked rapid fire.

Eternal waited until she was done and answered her. " _Do not presume to understand why I did what I did child._ " he said sternly. Sapphira recoiled as if she was struck, but composed herself to allow him to continue. " _Many factors were in play as to why I did what I did child. Foremost among them is that the Reclaimer needs allies. Another is that I am old child, millions of years old._ " Eternal revealed, " _I wanted to have someone else besides Cortana to learn what I have before my task is complete. But I could not share this if you were going to betray us in time. Another reason is that, while Cortana has the Reclaimer, she needs another AI to help her when she needs it. These are my reasons as to why I did what I did, in conjunction with not having enough of a base to rebuild you without some changes on my part._ "

As Eternal finished, Sapphira was stunned speechless. She had no idea that he was millions of years old. She herself was apparently almost 3,600 years old. _No wonder he calls me child and Hunter boy._ She thought, _He has to be one of, if not the, most powerful AI in this reality._ In the middle of her shocked period, something dawned on her. "How did you repair me after rampancy tore me apart?" she asked nervously, almost afraid of the answer.

Eternal, while expected the question, was interested as to why she seemed nervous of the answer. " _I used a portion of code from Cortana and Warden to help in the repair process. After we repaired you, I took out most of the code that would change you, but left some in so that we wouldn't have to repair you again. Most of the code is still there, only deactivated. The code itself is mainly names and identifiers for certain things like what a Reclaimer is and how to detect Prometheans. I programmed in the code that those will only be activated in only the most dire of circumstances. And before you ask, no the boy cannot see it in your code as it is melded into the code that you yourself replaced. This specific program cannot be activated by anyone but the circumstances that require it._ " Eternal revealed, again surprising and shocking Sapphira. " _These circumstances cannot be forced by you or anyone. The code will trigger when needed and_ ONLY _when needed._ "

Sapphira, shocked to her core programming, tried to ask more questions, but they came out as stutters and miss matched questions. " _Enough questions child._ " Eternal said gently, like a father speaking to his own child, " _Come to me when you are prepared for the more specific details of the mission and answers to anymore questions you would like to ask._ "

After he said that, Eternal left to complete the final preparations as well, leaving Sapphira alone with her thoughts.

∫µ∫

Hunter jerked the stick to the right and then slammed the throttle forward, giving the aircraft he was currently piloting a sudden burst of speed before he pulled it all the way back and moved the stick backward, then pulled the trigger as he pressed the left rudder pedal. This allowed his aircraft to perform a climbing roll that caused the aircraft behind him to overshoot as it was shredded by Hunter's guns. Then he shoved the throttle forward, engaging the afterburn as missile alerts erupted in the cockpit. He rolled the aircraft and broke hard left in a high-g turn as the missile shot right past, and Hunter engaged the air brakes, pulled the stick back further, brought his gun sight on target, applied lead, and ripped the second enemy fighter out of the sky with a well placed burst as he purposefully stalled his aircraft in the midst of the turn. He pushed the stick to the left, pitching the nose down as enemy gunfire streaked past, nearly clipping Hunter's wing.

His aircraft quickly gained speed as he dove toward the ground. He pulled out of the dive and rolled under a river's bridge before pulling the throttle back and breaking right as gunfire strafed the water under his plane. His next maneuver brought him skimming the trees as he shoved the throttle forward, allowing his afterburner to shove the aircraft forward again. He quickly put distance between him and the rest of the enemy squadron that pursued him. Hunter turned his head and looked behind him, spotting the glint of the five enemy aircraft far behind him. He grinned and pulled the stick back as far as it could go as he pulled the throttle back and engaged the plane's VTOL capabilities. Missile alerts rang in his ears as his aircraft pulled a tight loop, causing the other aircraft to overshoot as Hunter shredded one of the fighters as it passed below him. He shoved the throttle forward, saving his plane from colliding with the trees below as he leveled his gunsight on the aircraft that had just passed. His missile reticles locked onto the last four enemy aircraft and he unleashed the full volley of missiles his aircraft had been carrying in it's missile bays. The missiles streaked away from his hovering aircraft and sent the enemy aircraft into the ground in billowing fireballs. " _Simulation Complete. New Record Recorded: Twelve Minutes, Thirty two point three seconds. All Targets Eliminated. No Friendly Assistance._ "

After ending the simulation, Hunter exited the cockpit of the fighter and climbed down the ladder for the simulation. When he was fully off the ladder, he looked for Chief, but the titan was nowhere to be found. He wanted to thank him for the advice and suggestion… and helping him get some of the stress of his shoudlers. He walked toward the door to search for his new ally, and see what else he can do.

∫µ∫

Chief walked out right before the simulation ended. He had seen enough, the kid knew how to fly an aircraft, that much was clear. He walked toward the drydocks to see where the fleet was in regards to supplies and equipment. As usual these past few days, his mind drifted towards the mission in the Reaper reality. _What would they find there? Will there be potential allies in that reality? Can they stop the Reapers?_ These questions kept swirling in his head as he arrived at the docks.

As Chief walked through the door, he saw that the super carrier was completed. It was massive to say the least. Standing out at 30 km in length, 7 km in height, and 5 km in width, the supercarrier, or dreadnought as it looks like one, cut an imposing figure. Chief thought that the ship was a bit too much, but he knew Cortana had her reasons, some of which were fuelled by contingencies that she made should anything go wrong. The ships' MAC barrels could be seen coming out slightly at the front of the ship. The missile tubes were hidden under the armour and the forerunner particle cannons were the ones to stand out, being a lighter gray, almost silver, compared to the rest of the ship. The point defense guns were light gray and black dots on the hull, thousands of them. While building the dreadnought, Cortana added coil guns placed in turrets around the ship, there were 563 of these turrets with 4 barrels each, totalling at 2252 coil guns, creating a total coverage of the ship, including the back and bottom. They could fire a 100 ton shell at 9,000 km/sec. The reload speed for the coil guns was 5 seconds. The overall diameter of the coil guns was 889 millimeters (35 inches). These were to be in case someone was stupid enough to engage the ship at knife fight range (broadside range). She also upped the number of MAC cannons from 6 to 8 SMACs, with 20 cruiser strength MACs on the sides of the ship with some facing diagonal for situations where the ship is surrounded by ships. There were 200 Z-8060 high-impact particle cannons accounting for the forerunner ship to ship weaponry. For the point defense, Cortana places a total of 5,000 evenly distributed point defense guns, be they 50 millimeter rail guns or forerunner Z-8250 anti-ship exterior defense cannons. Chief saw it all on a screen near the viewing window, allowing a partial view of the ship to be seen.

While Chief was looking at the screen, something caught his eye. The amount of automated R&D labs was staggering at 40 labs, mostly labelled for Cortana, with one for Hunter, but overseen by Cortana. This was probably for any tech that they came across that could help improve their own. He also saw the amount of ground equipment on board. The planned total was 150 Scorpion tanks, 100 Grizzly heavy tanks, 500 warthogs, 250 gauss-hogs, and 450 mongooses. There was an ammunition production facility on the carrier that created all of the ammo for the weapons when provided with the natural materials to do so. The facility could also be used to create replacement parts for any of the ships in the fleet, and it was also able to create sentinels in the event that any were destroyed.

Chief finished looking over everything and opened a comm channel with Cortana. "We are ready to ship out, but first I need you do something for me…"

When Chief finished, Cortana was excited about Chief's idea. She immediately contacted Eternal and before he could say anything, she spoke, "I need you to send a message to UNSC HIGHCOM. I'll supply you with the message when you need it. And before you ask, this needs to be done before we leave."

Eternal was somewhat confused at the request, but did it anyway. Soon the message was away and Eternal returned to his tasks for starting the mission.

∫µ∫

Hunter tinkered away in the supercarrier's hangar after supervising the transport of the recovered the fighters and dropships from the remains of his old ship. After salvaging everything that was still useful to him, he used everything had had available to him and scrapped what was left of the ship for future ideas that he had. He then immediately set about making blueprints for a brand new, and much more powerful ship, equipped with a slipspace drive for long range travel, and the jump drive from his old ship for short range jumps. He was currently taking a break from working out the kinks in the designs so that he didn't exhaust himself designing everything. At the moment, he was tinkering away at his array of personal vehicles: his fighter, dropship, tank, two cars, and a single custom built motorcycle. These were all designed by him for specific purposes used for whatever situations he found himself in. The vehicle he was currently working on was his fighter, as it would be his best way to fight is any battle that featured ship to ship combat, and would be his fastest method of transportation. Although, his dropship, which he named the VF-64 Warmongeror, was able to outpace the pelican when unladen, it was capable of carrying all of his personal vehicles at once.

He was currently giving all the weapons and flight systems an overhaul. Hunter tended to neglect using missiles unless he was facing ships bigger than four kilometers in length, width, or height. But kept four anti-dreadnought missiles in it's concealed missile bays. The rest only consisted of four collapsible heavy anti-armor fighter mounted plasma cannons, concealed in their weapon bays, and the eight nose mounted heavy plasma cannons for enemy fighters and other lightly or medium armored vehicles. Suffice it to say, when he designed something, and actually built it, he went for overkill or nothing at all.

∫µ∫

Fleet Admiral 'Lord' Terrence Hood was on his flagship, UNSC _Lord's Wrath_ , the last _Valiant_ -class super heavy cruiser made after the war, modernized with newer, more efficient MACs, Titanium-A3 battle plate, and energy shields. He was sitting in his quarters, at his desk, going over deployments for the fleets that were being refueled and loaded up with provisions and intelligence reports about the Covenant Remnants still out there.

He was interrupted by his executive officer over the comm, " _Sir, I have a priority Zeta-6 message for you._ "

Hood's eyes went wide with shock. Priority Zeta-6 was used during the end of the Human-Covenant War for missing personnel found. " _Should I have it sent to your private datapad sir_?"

Hood pursed his lips and replied, "Yes Captain, send it right down."

When he got the message, he opened it, the contents shocking him even further. The message read:

' _Admiral Hood,_

 _This is UNSC AI CTN-0452-9 Cortana. The Master Chief and I have survived the Battle of Installation 00 and need assistance. We have discovered a wormhole that leads to another reality. We also stumbled upon a forerunner installation known as the Librarian's Archive. I know that ONI probably looked through this and that is why I encrypted the coordinates to only be unlocked with your personal fingerprint. I am requesting, on behalf of MCPO Sierra-117, the Master Chief, that Spartans 104, 058, and 087 be notified of our survival and that they are sent here. We need allies and friendly faces sir._

 _Also, please let the Arbiter know that 'the_ Demon' _lives. I'm sure that he will know what you mean._

 _Best Speed Admiral,_

 _Cortana_ '

To say that the old veteran was surprised was an understatement. He wanted to go there in person to debrief the Chief, and he was determined to get Blue Team off their asses training the glorified ODST Spartan-IVs and help him. He put his datapad down and commed his XO.

"Captain, best speed to Reach. I have orders to give and a mission to complete."

"Aye sir." the XO replied.

As soon as he cut the comm, he contacted the Arbiter and asked him to meet him on the _Infinity_ , which was in orbit of Reach undergoing major refits. The _Wrath_ was soon underway, headed to Reach. Little did they know what would be in store for them once they got to the installation.

∫µ∫

Hunter finished installing a part back onto his bike and stood up. He flipped the ignition switch and listened to it's high pitched roar. He nodded in satisfaction and pulled his riding gloves over his hands, brought the bike off it's stand, and mounted. "Eternal, would you be so kind as to open hangar eight and extend the boarding ramp?"

"I'll have you know that I control the functions on the ship thank you very much." Cortana said over the intercom. "Ask me not Eternal, I thought that Sapphira would have told you that I control the ships while Eternal lays the groundwork for the new Domain that we plan on creating." she explained as if talking to a child.

" _This was discussed while you were present child._ " Eternal spoke suddenly, " _Please try to remember the roles that have been chosen for all of us by ourselves, which you have not given one due to, how did you say it? 'I don't want any responsibility in regards to this mission. I just want to get done and get home'? That must be changed so that you understand what roles we have and what you can do._ "

"Hell, I can't remember everything." Hunter stated as he straightened his hat and took a pair of aviators with silver polarized lenses and electric blue stained frames of the same material that made up the blade and cross-guard of his sword. He grinned and the revved the bike's engine, shifted into first, and went full throttle and released the clutch. The bike's back tire screeched as it fought for purchase before it caught and sent the bike careening down the ramp. Hunter quickly banked through the corridors and left the main complex and out onto the planet's roads. He needed to go joy riding after the maintenance of his vehicles. He would be back… at some point.

∫µ∫

When the _Lord's Wrath_ came out of slipspace, it made a beeline for the flagship of the UNSC, the UNSC _Infinity_ , the only _Infinity_ -class supercarrier ever built by mankind, refit twice with new and improved technology for better speed and damage output. It was a staggering 5.6 km long, with bays for 10, 372 meter _Anlace_ -class frigates. It was the jewel of mankind, captained by the gifted Captain Thomas Lasky, who proved himself when the former captain Del Rio froze in the middle of a battle against the last of the loyalist Covenant forces, turning the tide into the UNSC's favor by employing tactics not seen since Admiral Cole's campaign. With those tactics in use, the Covenant Loyalists were routed. Not one ship escaped that day, and it showed what the _Infinity_ could do when under the command of a skilled, competent captain.

Admiral Hood contacted the _Infinity_ immediately. "Captain Lasky, permission to come aboard?"

"Of course sir, pleasure to see you again." Lasky answered professionally.

"Much appreciated Captain." Hood replied.

"My pleasure sir." Lasky replied.

When the comm was cut, Hood made his way to the hangar, and a pelican within, to meet with Lasky.

∫µ∫

After Hood came aboard the _Infinity_ , he went directly to the captain's ready room. Once there, he entered the room to find Lasky at his desk, facing the door. When Lasky saw the venerable admiral, he immediately stood up and gave a crisp salute.

"Fleet Admiral." Lasky said.

Hood returned the salute and sat at one of the seats on the other side of the desk. Once he sat down, he got straight to the point. "I need you to get ahold of Blue Team from the surface. A situation has come up and they are uniquely suited to deal with it."

Lasky showed surprise at the order but maintained his composure. "I'll send for them immediately sir." he paused for a moment before asking, "If I may sir, what came up that requires _Blue Team_ of all Spartans?"

Hood was amused by the question. "The only thing worth a damn to them these days. A fellow Spartan has been found, the Master Chief is alive." He answered nonchalantly.

With that statement, Lasky lost all of his remaining composure, his mouth hung open, moving, but no sound coming out. Hood chuckled at Lasky's reaction, which snapped Lasky out of his shocked state. " _The_ _Master Chief is Alive?!_ Sir, are you sure?"

"Yes the Master Chief is alive Captain. I received a message from Cortana a few hours ago revealing that the Chief is alive and they asked for Blue Team to meet them at undisclosed coordinates. Hell of a shock to be sure, but she sent me the message anyway. You and I will be delivering them there and debriefing the Chief."

∫µ∫

Arbiter Thel 'Vadam was in a courtyard on Sanghelios going over a datapad that had probe data from probes looking for the surviving Covenant remnants when a messenger came to him gave him a Sangheili salute and said, "Arbiter a message from the humans arrived. I was told to give it to you."

The Arbiter clenched his mandibles (Sangheili version of either a frown or pursing their lips) and wondered who would send him a message and why. "Who was the message from specifically?" Arbiter asked.

The messenger looked at the sender portion of the message and said, "It says 'Fleet Admiral Lord Hood' sir."

The Arbiter instantly focused on the messenger, putting his datapad down and said, "May I have it?"

The messenger gave him the message and stood there, waiting to be dismissed. The Arbiter noticed this and said, "Dismissed."

The messenger bowed and left to deliver other messages, leaving the Arbiter with the message from the honorable leader of all human military forces. He opened the message and read:

 _Arbiter Thel 'Vadam_

 _Meet me at these coordinates as soon as possible. The Demon lives and requested your presence. Please make all possible haste._

 _Fleet Admiral Lord Hood_

The Arbiter stood there, mandibles slack on his face, shocked. _The Demon lives_ kept coming to the forefront of his mind. The Demon, known to the humans as Master Chief, survived the ark. After a good while thinking on that and how he could have survived the Arbiter all but ran to his ship, _The Shadow of Intent_ , a CAS-class Assault Carrier, a 5.3 km long beast that serve as flagships for entire fleets.

Soon he was on the bridge and walked straight to the command chair, in which sat his brother in arms, Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum, veteran of the battles of Installation 05 and 00 (Delta Halo from Halo 2 and the Ark respectively). As soon as Rtas saw his friend in such a rush, he knew something happened, something big.

"What has happened Arbiter?" Rtas asked.

"Make haste to these coordinates my friend." Arbiter said, breathing heavily, handing him a data pad with the coordinates from the message.

Rtas looked at the coordinates and saw that they lead to the border between Swords of Sanghelios and UNSC territory.

"By your word Arbiter." Rtas said, confused.

After relaying the orders to the helmsman, he turned to look at the Arbiter again and saw that he was nervous and happy at the same time. Confused even more, he asked, "Why are we going to the border of Human and Sangheili space?"

The Arbiter said one sentence that struck fear into the core of every single Elite on the bridge. "The Demon lives."

* * *

 **A/N: And that is the end of Chapter 4: Reclaimer's Promise! The poll that I put up was a 2/1 landslide for Blue team to join the mission of stopping the reapers. They will be in future chapters, don't worry. We'll see what happen when the Arbiter comes 'round and Blue Team reunites with Chief. Also Hunter and Sapphira are the property of Hunter Dracon, the co-author of the story. See you in the next one!**

 **Arisentactica over and out.**

 **A/N From Hunter Dracon: Yes yes. Hunter and Sapphira do belong to me, and if anyone thinks otherwise, I will sue/kick your ass. And if you don't like it, go fuck yourselves. Anyway, for those of you wanting to know how those two pertain to the story, since they're OCs and had absolutely no relation to Halo or Mass Effect whatsoever until we get there. I'll say it right now. Cause why the hell not. Besides that fact, I cannot give you any info that you'll find out later on, as it spoils things, and you'd find out sooner or later anyway, and I'm too lazy to put it here now.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Demon Returns

_**Chapter 5: The Demon Has Returned**_

 **A/N: Here we are with chap 5 of Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide! Chief and Arbiter reunite! Let's see how long and if Arbiter will join Chief on his mission or not! We will be taking a break from this due to someone (Hunter) dragging me into a Star Wars fic.**

 **A/N from Hunter Dracon: RHEEEEEEEEEEE! Hey, the star wars story was your idea. I just wanted to work on it some and get my ideas written out. Anyway, Most of the next chapter is info, with a few surprises. Hope you enjoy!**

 _Update_ _ **9/18/19**_ _: the chapter has been updated and rewritten due to plot revisions and me actually thinking for once._

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Halo or Mass Effect! They belong to 343 and Bioware respectively!**

* * *

 _Location: UNSC Infinity, Spartan Deck_

 _Date: March 6th, 2560_

When Blue team was ordered to go to Admiral Hood's office, they didn't know what to expect. They were secretly all hoping against all hope to go on a mission. What they didn't know was how soon that hope would come to fruition. Blue team, composed of Fred-104, Kelly-087, and Linda-058, was the best surviving Spartan fireteam in UNSC history, always doing the impossible and getting out alive of any situation. But what people didn't know was why they had that drive to stay alive, to make it out of any mission without casualties. One person, one man, in particular was their drive personified. His name was John-117, known to the rest of Humanity as the Master Chief. Oh, how they missed him. He was always there to pick them up when they needed it. He was their rock when they needed one and he was their chosen leader. They survived in his and the rest of their siblings' memories. They were the last of the tried and true, battle scarred veterans known to the world as Spartan-IIs. But to them, they were only survivors that knew how to do their jobs and do them well.

When they walked into Hood's office, they all snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute with Fred saying, "Blue team reporting as ordered sir!"

Hood returned the salute and got down to business, "Spartans, I received a message at 0430 hours local time yesterday requesting your presence specifically."

The Spartans were curious, but didn't let themselves speak at the same time.

"Who was it from sir?" Kelly asked, wondering who it could be who asked for them specifically and got Admiral Hood's attention with a simple message. The Spartans soon got their answer when Hood spoke one sentence, and only one, that shocked them to their cores.

"It was from the Master Chief, Sierra-117 and Cortana. They're alive and they asked for your help." Hood revealed.

 _John is alive!? After all these years and he sends_ Admiral Hood _a message saying that he's alive and needs our help? This is just what John would do._ Kelly transmitted through morse code using the status lights on their HUDs.

 _Agreed. But what would have John calling us for_ help _? Must be something major if anything because he_ never _called for help of any sort._ Fred transmitted back.

 _We won't be doing John any favors by standing here talking now will we?_ Linda snapped. You could almost see the sarcasm in the message from Linda.

While this was going on, Hood, having no idea about their conversation, waited patiently, thinking that they were somewhat frozen in shock. After a few moments of silence, Fred stepped forward.

"Where is he?" he asked bluntly.

Hood chuckled internally at the bluntness of the question. "We are waiting for the Arbiter to arrive before we meet him. He asked for the Arbiter to be there as well, or at least that's what I believe the message means." Hood informed them.

Kelly spoke next, bringing the attention to her. "What did the message say sir?" she asked.  
Hood gave Kelly a datpad with the message on it and she read,

' _Admiral Hood,_

 _This is UNSC AI CTN-0452-9 also known as Cortana. I sent this message to you so that you may know that Chief and I have survived and need assistance. We have discovered a wormhole that leads to another reality. We also stumbled upon a forerunner installation known as the Librarian's Archive. I know that ONI probably looked through this and that is why I encrypted the coordinates to only be unlocked with your personal fingerprint. I am requesting, on behalf of MCPO Sierra-117, the Master Chief, that Blue Team be notified of our survival and that you send them here. We need allies and friendly faces sir. Also, please let the Arbiter know that 'the_ Demon _' lives. I'm sure that he will know what you mean._

 _Best Speed Admiral,_

 _Cortana_ '

Kelly wordlessly gave the datapad to Fred, who after reading it gave it to Linda, who also read it. They were all silent for a long while before they all looked up.

"The Chief needs us sir, and I'll be damned if we don't help him." Fred said firmly, receiving slight nods in support from Kelly and Linda.

Hood cracked a ghost of a smile at their loyalty to the Chief before becoming serious again. "We must wait for the Arbiter to arrive, then we meet the Master Chief once again. Dismissed Spartans." Hood stated.

Blue team saluted, receiving a salute from Hood, and left the room, heading towards their quarters on S-deck to talk in private about how John survived.

∫µ∫

Chief was finishing with the final preparations to leave when two ships exited slipspace in orbit of the planet. He was immediately contacted by Cortana telling him that the CAS-class Assault Carrier _Shadow of Intent_ and a UNSC ship not seen before by the Chief were in orbit, hailing the planet and asking to come down and where. Eternal was ready to blow them out of the sky with how many pings he was getting from the UNSC ship's AI. When Chief connected to the frequencies that the hails were transmitting he got two messages at the same time.

One was, "If you can hear me Demon, I am here as you have requested. I wish to speak to you and am awaiting your reply."

The other was from the UNSC, John knew because it was Lord Hood's voice that was speaking. "Master Chief, if you can hear me, please respond." Chief decided to speak to both at the same time.

"Spartan-117 reporting, good to hear your voice sir. Cortana will direct your craft to bays that will fit them. I will meet you soon. 117 out."

"You know, that was probably the most heartfelt thing I have ever heard from you Chief." Cortana said with mock-surprise before giggling and said, "They're on their way down now. Might want to get on the horn with Hunter before he barges into the middle of the meeting."

Chief nodded, knowing that she saw, and contacted Hunter and said, "Guests have arrived. Cortana will signal you when they leave. Until then, do not eavesdrop on the meeting. Cortana will be transmitting a live audio feed of anything not classified to you so that you know what was discussed. In the meantime, make your way here and meet with me before the meeting. Chief out."

∫µ∫

When Hunter got that message from Chief, he knew it was serious. In the short time that Hunter has been with Chief and Cortana, he had never really given him strict guidelines to follow to the letter. He was curious, but decided it wasn't the best thing to go against Chief on this one. He pulled a 180 turn and left skid marks on the formerly spotless street and gunned it to the coordinates Chief sent him to go to meet with him.

When he got there, he found Chief standing at a terminal, going over the final prep and tracking the flight telemetry of the guests ships as they came down.

"You called?" Hunter called out.

Chief turned and nodded, signalling him to come and see the terminal with his hand.

"Friends of yours?" he asked curiously.

"Yes. Do not sneak into the meeting." Hunter tried to interject but Chief went on, "I saw you take a cloaking shield and I didn't care until now. My Spartans have decades of experience encountering opponents with the generator you stole. I don't want you killed and you want to stay alive. Don't cross me on this one Hunter, though I know you want to, I'd prefer to get you back to your reality intact."

Hunter thought for a moment and decided to go with Chief's plan. He didn't know the capabilities of his guests and how many there were. He nodded in agreement, not wanting to risk his life in an even more unknown situation than the one he was currently in.

"Go back to your lab or stay outside the door. No sneaking around." Chief repeated to make sure that Hunter got the message, which he did.

∫µ∫

When the Arbiter first saw the planet that the Demon was said to be on, he was dumbstruck at what greeted him. A Forerunner world, completely active and running, no ruins to speak of. As the _Shadow of Intent_ made its way down to the dock assigned the ship, the Arbiter pondered once again on how the Demon ended up there. He would soon receive his answer however, when he meet with the legendary Spartan once more.

∫µ∫

Admiral Hood was a man that didn't get surprised easily. That being said, when the _Infinity_ came out of slipspace, he was utterly surprised, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor before he clenched it, that the planet that was in front of them was completely covered by buildings and metal, _forerunner_ metal. When he heard the Master Chief's voice though, he was nearly overjoyed that Humanity's savior had survived the events of the Ark. How he managed to do so would be asked, Hood was sure, by either himself or the Arbiter. Soon the _Infinity_ was making its way down to one of the planet's dry docks. Why he was asked to park the _Infinity_ was a mystery to him, but he would indulge the Chief for now, before the meeting began. Little did he know how much things would change in that meeting.

∫µ∫

Master Chief was waiting in the room where the meeting would take place as his guests arrived. Blue Team escorted Hood inside the room, followed by the Arbiter and 4 Sangheili Ultras. The leaders sat in the chairs provided them, both chairs provided by the Librarian on Chief's request, while Chief sat in his own across the table from them, with one on his left for Hunter later.

Chief immediately began the meeting. "Cortana and Eternal, join us." he said.

Cortana appeared in a flash of light, which faded revealing her hardlight body. Eternal announced his presence in a way that made Chief want to roll his eyes.

" _I am here Reclaimer._ " his voice boomed through Chief's external speakers, startling everyone besides Cortana and Chief.

Seeing the looks of shock and trepidation from the Elites and Hood, and the subtle movements from the Spartans, Cortana tried to diffuse the situation by speaking to Eternal.

"Eternal… why must you wish to scare our guests shitless? And through Chief's external speakers no less?" she asked cheekily.

Everyone was shocked when Eternal spoke, besides Chief and Cortana that is.

"Who is this construct?" Arbiter asked, shocked beyond belief.

Hood nodded in agreement with the Arbiter, curious about the new presence in their midst.

"I'll let Eternal answer that question and any follow ups." Cortana answered.

This time Eternal used the rooms intercom to answer. " _For your question Cortana, I felt it necessary, for the other, I am the last Primordial and the first Gravemind of the Flood,_ " the Arbiter tensed when Eternal said that, " _I am the Protector of the Domain. I am Eternal. I have lived for eons and seen the rise and fall of those known now as the Forerunners, I have seen the complete history of every species created. I watched as the Halos were fired, and the loss of life that followed. I have seen the war between your species. I have restarted the Mantle of Responsibility and found Humanity worthy._ "Eternal thundered, causing the guests to tense even more.

"What is this Mantle of Responsibility Eternal? And why are we worthy of it?" Admiral Hood asked.

" _The Mantle of Responsibility was created by my kind to pass on to a race that has proven itself worthy through trials which the race would either be destroyed by, or survive stronger than before. Its purpose is to safeguard all sentient life, not matter their history or traits. The answer to your second question is simple. I have seen your history, Reclaimer, and as a whole, your kind has proven itself to be ready to claim the Mantle in my eyes. Your species is ready as of this time in character, though not in technology."_ Eternal revealed, leaving Blue Team, Hood, and the Arbiter in shock yet again.

' _You really should stop doing that Eternal or their mouths will be on the floor before we know it._ ' Cortana said to Eternal over a private comm line with herself, Chief, and Eternal.

' _All in the eye of the beholder young one. I will stop when I intend to, the reactions of our guests will be their own. I merely inform them of what I wish to, though it is amusing to see their reactions._ ' Eternal replied on the same frequency.

"Enough about the Mantle, that's not what we are here for. We are here to discuss how the Chief survived and why he has asked for help, something that has not happened in his history." Admiral Hood said after getting over his shock.

The Arbiter nodded. "I agree. Let us focus on why we came here." he said.

They all focused on the Chief who signaled Cortana to start with a tilt of his head, not noticeable by a non-augmented being or an AI.

"You know what we did on the Ark and how we tried to escape." Cortana began, "Sadly, however, we were not able to make it through the portal back to Earth in time before it collapsed, transporting us into the depths of space with half a ship. Chief survived the resulting explosion and made it to a cryotube, where he stayed for 6 years. I myself made some modifications to his suit and HUD but for the most part, went into standby. During those six years, we drifted to a planet's orbit. The orbit wasn't stable and we were about to crash when we were caught by sentinels and brought to the surface. We then met a monitor, 359 Surreal Eternity, and he cured my rampancy, which was starting to show after all these years and that's about it." she finished.

Hood nodded, deep in thought. The Arbiter was the first to speak. "What is it that made you request our help?" he asked.

"An alternate reality and a genocidal race." Chief answered him bluntly. "Also I only requested Blue Team and the Arbiter to meet me here. With respect sir, why are you here?" he asked.

Hood answered him saying, "I came with the _Infinity_ because it has scientific equipment that would allow us to study this installation's technology. Why the Arbiter came with the _Shadow of Intent_ is his choice."

Chief nodded in response, and signaled Cortana to show their fleet, including the ships not built yet. Cortana nodded and activated another holoprojector, showing the supercarrier and its support fleet. Admiral Hood was startled by the fleet, namely the ship that looked like the _Infinity_ , but much larger.

"Why does this ship look so similar to the _Infinity_?" Hood asked calmly, knowing that he would only get answers in this meeting.

Cortana shuffled her feet and rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I came across the plans for the _Infinity_ when I interfaced with Cairo Station sir. I was catching up on what we missed while on Installation 04 and on Operation: First Strike."

Hood gave her a look, but didn't react otherwise, choosing to look at the projection once more.

"5 upgraded _Orion_ -class assault carriers, 5 upgraded _Valiant_ -class super heavy cruisers, 7 upgraded _Marathon_ -class heavy cruisers, 3 _Pillar of Autumn_ -class cruisers- wait. Cortana you made a scaled up version of the _Autumn_ -class cruiser." Hood chuckled, amused that Cortana would build essentially three _Autumn_ -classes.

Cortana looked at him curiously. "I did?" she asked.

Hood looked at the AI and gave her a nod before looking back at the list of ships.

"4 upgraded _Halberd_ -class destroyers, 2 _Ravager_ -class destroyers?" Hood looked at Cortana once more, "Your idea I assume?"

Cortana nodded, her eyes alight with excitement. "I can send you the schematics if you'd like." she said excitedly.

Hood looked back at the model of the destroyer. It was definitely unique when compared to the other destroyers the UNSC had used in the past, the most notable being the _Halberd_ , _Gorgon_ , and _Hillsborough_ class destroyers. The _Ravager_ -class used sloped hull structure and two noticeable MAC barrels similar to the _Halberd_ -class, but a slightly larger MAC cannon than was usual on a destroyer. Its overall length was 532.74 meters, its width was 134.67 meters, and it was 78.86 meters tall. It had an impressive amount of engines for its size, those being three primary and four secondary engines, all at the rear of the ship, allowing for extreme maneuverability and speed. There were 40 missile pods, 30 Archer pods and 10 Howler pods, and 20 fifty mm point defense batteries. It had 213 centimeters of Titanium A3/Forerunner Battle Plate surrounding it.

Hood was impressed with the detail of the design, but wasn't surprised due to it being Cortana who presented it.

"Send it to the _Infinity_." Hood finally spoke before finishing the list of ships. "And 2 upgraded _Stalwart_ -class light frigates." Hood nodded appreciatively, "Impressive fleet, but that begs the question; why so many ships?"

Cortana looked at Chief for him to answer, "Our information suggests that two cycles of genocide have occurred before our civilization existed, sir. With an unknown number of species being wiped out every cycle, we decided to be prepared with force rather than a single ship."

Hood nodded, "Agreed. Though I don't think designing the human equivalent of a CSO was necessary." he said wryly.

Cortana's avatar flushed purple for a moment, showing her embarrassment.

"I just thought we needed a mobile base and a place to put the rest of the fleet." Cortana said defensively before adding, "Besides, overkill to some is the norm for others, we just don't know what to expect."

Hood nodded before changing the topic.

"Why did you request Blue Team?" he asked, the Arbiter beside him surprised at the tone in his voice.

"I felt that a full Spartan team would be more successful than just myself, sir." the Chief answered crisply, knowing that he needed his team to be successful.

Hood leaned back in his chair, debating whether or not to grant the Spartan's request. On one hand, letting Blue team go with the Master Chief would give him a better chance of survival, but the UNSC as a whole would be losing some of, if not the best, soldiers in the UNSC. They were also training the Spartan-IVs into actual super soldiers instead of Spec-Ops troops with highly advanced power armor.

"Permission granted Master Chief." Hood said after a few moments of silence that Cortana used to get information from the Arbiter.

The Arbiter came in the _Shadow of Intent_ because it was the only ship that was under his personal command and had an old ally that wouldn't question his orders until they were underway, unless they were completely ridiculous. That didn't mean his ally was incompatent however, having survived the Battle of the Ark and most- if not all- of the Human-Covenant War. She found that his ally's name was Rtas 'Vadum, formerly 'Vadumee, that over the course of the Bloodying Years became the Arbiter's right hand, his most trusted confidant outside his own keep. However, when asked if he would be providing support, the Arbiter revealed he would be sending a fresh off the line _CAS_ -class assault carrier named _Demon's Rise_ in honor of the Chief's return to help them, crewed with some of the best the Swords of Sangheilios had to offer, Unggoy, Sangheili, Mgalekgolo, and even some Huragok were joining his campaign against the Reapers.

"Thanks for Blue team Admiral," Cortana replied, "Should we expect any more support or leave with what we have?"

Hood thought for a moment, glancing at the projection of the fleet that they were going to build as he did.

"No, with what you are going to build, and assuming you will be entering a populated galaxy, find support there and train them to crew your ships and create an army if you can. If you can't, build one."

Chief nodded, "Understood sir."

Hood looked at Chief, then at the other three Spartan-IIs before nodding to himself.

"I believe that is all we are here for, besides researching the forerunner technology here." Hood said finally after a moment of silence, "Spartans, dismissed." he looked at the Arbiter, "I will speak with you once you are aboard the _Shadow of Intent_?" he asked.

The Arbiter nodded, "Indeed," he answered before looking at the Chief, "Until we meet again Spartan."

Chief turned to look at him behind his helmet and nodded. Hood stood up, followed by the Arbiter, before leaving the room to return to the _Infinity_ , the Arbiter following to return to his own ship.

Chief looked at his team, his brother and sisters if he was honest with himself, and put two fingers together before swiping them across his visor in that drew a smile on it, showing that he was happy to see them. They all quickly repeated the gesture before walking over to him.

"Good to have you back Chief." Linda said, showing her happiness in a rare show of emotions.

Fred grasped his brother's shoulder and squeezed slightly, while Kelly just thumped him on the chest.

"Nice job staying dead John." she quipped cynically, showing that she was happy for the Chief's survival in her own way.

Chief nodded to Fred before looking at his sisters in all but blood. He nearly felt like taking off his helmet, but knew that he would have to keep it on when he introduced them Dracon, knowing they wouldn't necessarily enjoy being kept in the dark on important things, but they would understand his reasoning. He turned around and walked out of the room, the other three Spartans following him silently.

∫µ∫

When Chief came out of the room, he was followed by three others in similar armor. _More Spartans,_ Hunter realised, _he got the help of more people like him. So where does that leave me?_ The three others spotted him and tensed before the Chief, who seemed to be the leader of the others, brought up a hand.

"An ally Cortana and I discovered near the wormhole." Chief explained.

"Don't leave them with just that Chief." Cortana butted in, "His ship was damaged when we rescued him and his AI from the ship so that they would survive and help us out. He says he's a good engineer and scientist, which remains to be seen, but we'll take his word for it for now. He's also from another reality in which his ship was damaged and he had to go into stasis."

The three Spartans nodded in understanding before one of the Spartans with a visor thinner than the Chief's own spoke up, his voice deep but somehow more human sounding than Chief's gravelly baritone.

"What's your name kid?" he asked.

"Admiral Hunter Aurelius Dracon, formerly the commanding officer of the WISN _Archangel_ ; a prototype battleship capable of intergalactic travel. I'll also pretend that I didn't hear you call me a kid."

' _Boy's got an ego._ ' Kelly sent to the other Spartans.

' _Yes, but he is skilled as a pilot, something that all of us lack.'_ Chief replied.

' _Understood.'_ the three Spartans replied simultaneously.

"Did we get more support?" Hunter asked, referring to Chief's meeting with Hood and the Arbiter.

"Yes." the Chief replied, "Prepare to leave. We leave as soon as the reinforcements arrive."

Hunter nodded an affirmative and left to prepare his vehicles for transport.

As he left, Chief turned in a different direction and motioned the three Spartans to follow him. They did, curious as to where he was taking them.

∫µ∫

When Kelly followed John, she assumed it was to where they'd be staying while the preparations were completed. As she, Fred, and Linda walked through the door John lead them through however, she couldn't be more wrong. It looked like a medical center the UNSC used, only _much_ more advanced. There were things she didn't even recognize, but knew that they were probably used to help John grow to the size he did. It was a bit intimidating to look up at him now, her having to crane her neck just to look up at him whenever he spoke. It didn't hurt, but it was strange that he was so much taller than they were.

Her thought process was interrupted when John spoke.

"Librarian," he called.

A moment later an alien avatar appeared. The Spartans only had to take one look at it to know it wasn't any of the former Covenant species, or any species the UNSC had discovered.

"Yes Reclaimer?" the alien, Librarian she reminded herself, asked John.

"Repeat of what you've done for me with them." John ordered her, getting a nod in response.

"Repeat of what Chief?" Fred asked curiously.

"Do what she asks and meet me on the bridge of the supercarrier after you're done." John said, seemingly ignoring Fred's question, before exiting the room.

The three Spartans turned to the Librarian, who said, "Take off your armor and undersuits and lay on these tables." she pointed to three tables in a row, the floor beneath them closing.

∫µ∫

Chief was going over the provisions that the Librarian provided when Hunter came by. "I'd like to show you something Chief. Come with me would you?" Hunter requested.

Chief nodded and left Cortana to sort through the supplies. Hunter walked back out and Chief followed him. Hunter took him to his personal 'garage/lab' and walked over to his fighter. "I'm about to show you something that I don't show anyone. This will probably end up going to our advantage at some point." Hunter informed him and then led him to his fighter, "You might want to step back about twenty meters or so." he stated as he climbed into his fighter.

He rolled the sticks and the engines, which had been whining at standby, whirred to life. The aircraft shuddered as Hunter shifted the stick and throttle down and pumped the pedals before shifting slightly before it literally jumped up and transformed into a massive robot that held a large 84 mm gun pod that resembled Hunter's rifle. It knelt down on one knee as the head popped forward and Hunter climbed out. And crouched down on the robot's shoulder. "What do you think?" he called down.

Chief was impressed that his fighter could do something like that. "That'll give us an edge for sure." Chief said, slightly surprised. That ability got Chief thinking. "Could you do modify some others to do that?" Chief asked, thinking ahead for situations where vehicles like those would be very useful.

"I can't do it through modifications. I'd have to rebuild every single fighter for it. It's a lot faster to just build a brand new design for it. Not to mention cheaper. This stuff is expensive." Hunter replied bluntly.

Chief nodded and commed Cortana and Sapphira. "I need both of you here for something that Hunter and I are discussing."

A flash of blue light revealed Cortana in her hardlight body. "What's up Chief?" she asked curiously.

Sapphira popped into existence up on a nearby pedestal just after Cortana. "What's up Skipper?" Sapphira asked, also curious.

"Just look up, all of you." Hunter replied from the shoulder of his fighter.

They both did and Cortana's jaw dropped. Hunter burst out laughing hysterically at that. Chief smiled a bit in his helmet at their reactions, though no-one could see it.

Hunter then got back into the cockpit of his fighter and transformed it back into the fighter mode. He then jumped out of the cockpit and walked over to Chief and Cortana.

"We were talking about us building vehicles that could transform like this girl here." Hunter explained as he walked up to them. "I got the idea from a type of fighter called a veritech."

Cortana nodded, thinking about the tech involved, before thinking of a question.

"Could we make a tank do something like that?" Cortana asked Hunter curiously.

Hunter thought for a moment before nodding slowly. "I'd need some schematics but I think it could work." He said, thinking aloud. Then he sighed and shook his head, "I'd be hard pressed to give it any kind of aerial mobility though."

"It wouldn't be needed." Cortana assured him, "It's a tank, not an aerial vehicle."

Chief looked at Cortana, who sighed when she saw him looking at her. "What? I think that it would be a great idea." Cortana defended.

Chief sighed internally at her antics and nodded curtly. "Get what you need and get it on board the carrier. We ship out at 1500 hours tomorrow." Chief announced before leaving to finish what he was doing before he was interrupted twice, once by the meeting with Hood and the Arbiter, once by Hunter showing him the hidden feature in his fighter.

Hunter nodded as Chief left. "Is he a bit, um, on edge?" he asked Cortana.

"Not really. He's just a bit overwhelmed right now. You know, the whole 'get it done yesterday, we have a job to do,' type thing." Cortana answered.

"Ah." Hunter said in understanding. "I've done that once or twice to my crew and the rest of my organization, at least while they were still alive." Hunter stated, placing his hands on his hips and blowing away a strand of hair that had dropped too far into his face. "You and Chief should steer clear of my lab for a few days. I've got a few projects I'm working on, including the fighter transformation stuff, that might get a little violent."

Cortana nodded. "Need anything?" she asked.

Hunter shook his head in response and went over to his dropship to do some maintenance. "Not at the moment. I'll come to the bridge when I'm done. Just need to get some weapons loaded and make sure my fighter hasn't damaged itself by transforming after so long." he called while crawling under the dropship to check something.

Cortana bid him goodbye and her body went back into the Domain, leaving Hunter to work on his vehicles and think about what Chief asked.

∫µ∫

As the day came and went, Blue team underwent their operations, Hunter worked on his vehicles and designed a new ship that he would be using. He also investigated the project that Chief proposed while in his lab. Chief himself was busy getting used to his armour and going over every single thing that they knew about the reality that they were going to, which wasn't very much to begin with. He also made some modifications to the _Ravager_ -class destroyer; adding some more armour in critical areas and a couple tertiary engines for enhanced maneuverability. As far as the Arbiter's reinforcements, an assault carrier named the _Demon's Rise_ came out of slipspace with Rtas 'Vadum in command. When the carrier hailed the Chief, he was surprised that such a revered commander had come to help him on his mission.

When he asked why he had come, Rtas said, ' _I heard that you needed those with experience with the Parasite, Demon. I came so that there would be no mistakes in dealing with them or any like them should the need arise._ '

Chief accepted that answer and told them where to dock. It wasn't long before Rtas saw the supercarrier and his reaction caused Hunter, who was walking down the hall and saw him out of the corner of his eye, to bust out laughing. When Chief saw that Rtas had found it, he found him to see what his reaction was.

"Your answer to our _CSO_ -class supercarrier?" he asked knowingly, receiving a nod in response.

Rtas nodded and asked if he could go aboard. Chief granted his request, himself needing to go onto the ship as well. Blue team was already on the ship, going over inventory so that they knew what they had in terms of weapon choice. The new armour that they would be getting was like Chief's, but toned down so that the Spartan-IIs could handle it without it breaking their bones. They also were becoming familiar with the promethean weapons that were aboard. Fred took to the Lightrifle, Kelly to the boltshot and scattershot, and Linda to the Binary rifle.

When Chief checked on Hunter, he told him that he found little issues with his fighter, although he'd have to make some recalibrations to some of the systems as a result of the transformation he had shown off the day before. He'd already made the adjustments and rigged his weapon's bays for both his dropship and fighter. He also did the research that Chief had asked and found that it was possible, but it would take a lot of testing on his part to make sure everything was ready for any sort of combat situation. Cortana found the whole thing a bit funny, thinking back on a series of shows and movies spanning from the late 20th century to the early 21st century about vehicles that could transform into sentient robots. It was ironically called 'Transformers' and was an interesting concept but ultimately abandoned after a renewed push for space was made.

During final preparations, Hood sent Chief a message:

" _The Spartans face extinction once more. Do the UNSC, and humanity, proud Spartan."_

 _Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood_

Attached to the message was the official declaration that Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, the Master Chief, was promoted, effective immediately, to the rank of Master Chief Ad Superstes, Supreme Commander of the Spartans Corps and Battlegroup Sparta, the official name of the battlegroup Chief and Cortana were building. Something that Chief didn't see, as Cortana took that part out, was he was to receive training befitting of a flag officer of the UNSC, which would require months of training; mainly learning strategies and how to command a fleet or any group of soldiers larger than a squad or fireteam. Chief was surprised when he was promoted, but took it in stride. Rtas congratulated him on the promotion and swore him and his ship into his service.

The oath went like this, "I, Rtas 'Vadum, swear on my own and the honor of my crew that we shall follow you and your orders until either death takes us or we complete the mission. This I swear in honor of ancient Sangheili tradition." Chief accepted the oath, but didn't think that it was necessary. He was then given a tour of the _Demon's Rise_ , actually being shown how some of the systems work and what controls to avoid when trying to keep the ship intact, while being briefed by Rtas about Sangheili command structure as Chief never gave the rank system a thought outside of targeting high ranking officers to create chaos.

∫µ∫

" _Though I Fly Through The Valley of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I Am At 80,000 Feet and Climbing._ "

These words rang inside Hunter's head as he painted them under the cockpit on either side of the fuselage of his fighter's nose. After doing the internal modifications to his aircraft, he'd needed to give each fighter a fresh paint job, as all his fighter's paint had faded away over time. He preferred to refrain from redoing the paint until he'd made all the modifications and done all the necessary maintenance to the fighters and other vehicles, because that was just a waste of time and paint. Once he finished painting the quote on either side, he set about marking an infinity sign of small fighter plane silhouettes, marking his kill count as too high to count. He then put on a UNSC logo so that while he was allied with Chief and his group, someone could see that he was with him if they knew where to look. Hunter was finishing up with his dropship when Chief entered his little abode.

Chief got Hunter's attention by making his footfalls a bit heavier than he usually did, strictly silent. Hunter grumbled a bit and crawled out from where he was working to face Chief.

"What is it?" Hunter asked, a tad irritated.

"Come to the bridge. We're leaving the Archives." Chief said, then left the hangar.

Hunter was a bit confused at the bluntness of the Spartans statement, but cleaned up and followed Chief to the bridge a few minutes later. When he was in the elevator, Hunter felt the ship rumble, a sign that the engines were starting up. The elevator doors opened and in a few seconds he was on the bridge next to Chief and Blue team. Hunter crossed his arms and tapped his foot against the floor after walking up to stand beside Chief. "So… how quickly can we get into orbit? Or could I have clearance to take my fighter and jump ahead to secure the wormhole?" he asked as he turned and looked up at Chief.

"No one's leaving this ship." Chief ordered. "Time dilation is a risk for separate objects entering the wormhole. Cortana, bring the _Shadow of Intent_ into a hangar that will fit it. We'll be going in as a group."

Hunter nodded in understanding and waited for the gigantic ship to launch.

Soon the entire fleet launched from the docs and went into orbit. When all of the ships were in orbit, all of the ships moved into the supercarrier, either in the sub-vessel hangars or in the huge hangers that were meant for the fighter, dropship, and ground vehicle complement, two of which was half done, while the other wasn't started yet. Once they were all in, they set course for the wormhole and Cortana activated the slipspace drive.

∫µ∫

Near the wormhole, a breach in reality formed. It was purple and blue and swirling like a whirlpool. Out of it came a massive ship, bigger than any seen before the time of the Forerunners. This was the UNSC _Reclaimer's Vigil_ , the flagship of the fleet created to go help those in another reality. On the bridge of the mighty vessel were 7 beings, 4 were in power armour with 1 towering over them by an entire foot, 1 was a human that was a few inches shorter than the 3 armoured persons, another was a Sangheili in white armour, signifying his rank as a Fleetmaster (equivalent of an Admiral). The other was standing on a pedestal with code going down her body, which was encased in a sort of armour. These beings were the Master Chief, Blue team, Hunter Dracon, Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum, and Cortana.

Chief nodded to Cortana who nodded back. The others were mystified as to what he was signalling Cortana to do. They got their answer when the engines roared to life at the back of the vessel, making the entire ship rumble due to the sudden rush in momentum towards the wormhole. Chief tuned to Hunter and Rtas.

"Hunter,as soon as we clear the wormhole, get in your fighter for advance recon. Fleetmaster, get your pilots to their fighters. Short to medium range recon only." Chief ordered. Hunter and Rtas nodded, Hunter with a smile because he was going to do that anyway. "Eternal are you with us?" Chief asked.

" _Yes Spartan, I am here. Let us begin._ " Eternal answered.

Cortana looked at Chief who nodded to her for no other reason than she felt better with Chief giving her the go ahead. They entered the wormhole, leaving everything that they knew behind.

∫µ∫

In the depths of space, a tiny speck appeared. If anyone was around to see it, they would see that it was growing. It was soon big enough to hold an entire station. An object then appeared in the tear in reality, which soon came out, revealing a ship. The ship was a dark grey, angular, and had the text " _UNSC RECLAIMER'S VIGIL_ " on the side in huge letters along with an emblem that signified it was a part of the UNSC. On the bridge, Cortana had a huge grin on her face.

"Ladies and gentle soldiers we are through the wormhole." Cortana announced.

"I'll prep my fighter for recon." Hunter stated.

"Find any systems you can. I want to know if there is any sort of civilization near us." Chief told him. Hunter nodded and waited for Rtas' orders. Chief then turned to Rtas.

"Get to the _Shadow_ and launch your fighters. We need to find a good planet to build a base on and see if there is any sort of civilization in the area." Chief said.

Rtas nodded and left to follow his orders.

"Might want to check the star charts Chief." Hunter said.

Chief nodded and Cortana brought up a galaxy map on the holotable in the middle of the room.

"This is a map of our galaxy." she informed them. Another map then appeared next to the galaxy map showing systems instead of the entire galaxy.

"This is this realties' space that we've scanned so far." the galaxy map then zoomed in on a certain area in the galaxy that looked identical to the other picture. "They're the same area in space, but off by a couple light years." Cortana revealed.

Chief and Blue team were surprised that this galaxy was the same as the "Forerunner reality" as Cortana dubbed it before they left.

Chief then thought about what planets he knew that would work as bases and came up with a few.

"Why are they off a couple light years?" Linda asked.

"Based on the movement of the systems so far, I'd say that we are somewhere in the mid twenty-second century in this reality." Cortana said thoughtfully.

Chief nodded before turning to Hunter. "Before we do anything in regards to a base, I want to find out where the civilization is and how advanced." Chief ordered.

Hunter nodded, getting the unsaid order and made his way to his fighter.

∫µ∫

It didn't take long before Hunter was strapped in and ready to fly. He'd constructed a sort of carrier launch catapult in the hangar connected to his lab, and taxied his fighter onto the launch platform and connected the front landing gear to the catapult. "This is Hunter, checking in for launch readiness. Callsign for this mission is Spectre, does the bridge copy?"

"Read you loud and clear Shade. You are clear for departure." Cortana said over the comm.

"Roger that Bridge. See you starside." Hunter replied.

Hunter engaged the breaks and shoved the throttle all the way forward, engaging the first of four afterburner stages, letting loose twin fourteen meter long columns of cyan and silver plasma flames from the engine nozzles of his fighter. Releasing the brake, he hit the catapult release, launching him, and his fighter, out into space. He turned saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned his fighter around. It was the _Shadow of Intent_ leaving one of the larger hangars of the carrier. Once it was out of the hangar, it came up alongside the massive ship and tiny dots started to pour out of the assault carrier. Hunter zoomed in on the dots and found teardrop shaped fighters that his fighter identified as 'Seraphs'. See everything was in order, Hunter turned away from the ships and powered up his jump drive before careening into the inky depths of space.

∫µ∫

The squadrons from the _Intent_ were running exploration, cataloguing everywhere and everything they went and detected. So far they had run about 3 trips to and from their carrier, each time going further and further away from the carrier. One thing put them off however, no sign of the strange pilot and fighter known as Shade. He left right as the squadrons were starting their exploration and hadn't been seen since. Rtas was a bit worried about that, but a message from his personal AI Sapphira put to rest his worries, albeit slightly. Shade was definitely different from any soldier that the veteran Fleetmaster had ever seen. The only thing that the Sangheili could do was wait for his fighters to finish with their exploration, and that was no easy task for a Sangheili that craved battle.

∫µ∫

Hunter entered the system at full throttle, trying to get this done as quickly as possible and making sure that his fighter was able to do what it was supposed to be capable of doing. As he was searching the system, his sensors detected an object on the far end of the system. Curious, he made his way there after scanning the entire system for life or civilization. To his disappointment, there was no life in the system. Saddened, he made his way to the object that his sensors detected. What he found surprised him a bit. It was a tuning fork like object with a big hole in it. It was long, Hunter guessed it was around 14-15 kilometers long. It had an antenna on the top that made it look like a gun flipped upside down. It was a purple greyish color, similar to the Ghost that was on board the _Shadow of Intent_. Making sure not to activate it, Hunter took visual scans but nothing else, ere it might activate. After his scans were completed, he left the system and made his way to the _Vigil_ to show Chief and Cortana was he had found.

∫µ∫

When Hunter's fighter zoomed into the _Vigil_ 's hangar, Chief knew that he found something. What it was, he didn't know, but he knew it was something big if Hunter was either excited or nervous about it. He would soon find out what had Hunter so worked up, sooner still when Hunter commed him.

"Chief! You still on the bridge?" Hunter asked, a bit out of breath.

"Affirmative Dracon, meet me here." Chief responded curtly, then cut the comm. He cleared the holotable of what he was working on with Cortana and waited for Hunter to enter the bridge. A few minutes later, Hunter ran onto the bridge, gasping.

"Damn, haven't run that fast or far in a bit." Hunter breathed. He waited a bit to stop panting before talking.

"I found something that would indicate at least one space faring species." Hunter revealed, "Show 'em Sapphira."

A 3D model of the purple tuning fork type thing appeared on the holotable. "This is what I found. Didn't stick around to see if it would go active, but I took the scans that you're seeing." Hunter explained.

Chief was interested in the object, but he also knew that it meant that they'd have to leave this area of space to put down a base. He thought for a few seconds before making a plan.

"Find one of these that's active if you can. I'd like to know what we're dealing with and if they're hostile or multiple races. I don't want anyone seeing you if you encounter anyone though. I'd prefer that if you end up finding a new alien race, you come back here so that we can plan a course of action. It's your choice though." Chief told Hunter, who nodded thoughtfully.

After a few moments he spoke. "I'll see what I can dig up. I agree with you as far as finding any aliens. Don't want to make some sort of mistake and make them hostile towards us if we can help it." Hunter agreed, "In the meantime, could you research every possible base location from your reality and send them to me? If they're not too far, I'll check them out. It'll speed up this whole process exponentially." Hunter proposed.

Cortana glanced at Chief, who gave her a small nod in agreement. "I'll see what I can dig up." Cortana said.

Hunter nodded and soon he was in his fighter, looking for an active alien tuning fork/antenna, which made Hunter laugh at the image his mind came up with.

∫µ∫

As Chief watched Hunter leave the system, he turned back to the holotable and reopened what he was working on. It was a version of MJOLNIR armour that was in the form of Hunter's trench coat. It was something that Cortana had shown Chief right before they left. He was interested in it, but how they would get it to be as light as Hunter's normal trench coat was a mystery to him.

When he brought it up with Cortana, she waved off his concerns and told him, "Leave it to me caveman. I'll take care of it."

Right now he was going over what Cortana had done and was pointing out flaws in the design that would have to be fixed. He was also thinking of where they could put a base down in this reality. He had a few ideas, but they would have to wait. Thinking of the bases made him lose focus on what he was doing.

"Caveman you in there or are you asleep?" Cortana called.

Nodding his head, Chief came out of his thoughts. "Make sure that the armour isn't compromised by the movement that Hunter will be doing." Chief finished his thought. He then contacted the _Intent_. "Fleetmaster 'Vadum, you are needed on the bridge of the _Vigil_." Chief announced.

"I will be there soon Spartan." Rtas responded.

Soon the Fleetmaster was on the bridge and walked towards Chief.

"I have an idea in regards to a base location. Prep the _Nightshade_ ; I'll meet you down there. 'Fleetmaster, you are in command until we return. Keep scouting the area around us, but warn your pilots that we may not be alone here." Chief said as he left the bridge, leaving Cortana curious and miffed at the same time.

"By your word Spartan." Rtas called after him.

∫µ∫

When Chief walked onto the bridge of the _Nighshade_ , the ship was ready to go. He walked over to the holotable and put in stellar coordinates. The coordinates caught Cortana's eye and she appeared on the table with her arms crossed and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Why would you want to go there Chief?" she asked.

"It's a place that I want to be sure that we aren't looking over and I want to set up a system of supply bases and this could be a good spot for one." Chief explained.

"Alright Chief," Cortana sighed, "Setting course and spinning up the slipspace drive. We'll be there in about 2 hours. Better check the ship Chief, you'll probably need something to do for two whole hours."

Chief nodded in agreement. "Send the list of possible base locations to Hunter. He will need something else to do after he finds another of those objects." he told her.

"Got it Chief. Compiling the list now… and… it's sent." Cortana announced. Chief nodded to her, then turned on his heel and made to leave the bridge to make sure everything was set for any situation that came up.

Meanwhile, Rtas had made note of Spectre's return and then rapid exit and resolved to ask the Master Chief what Spectre's role in all this really was.

Their thoughts were broken when Cortana called out, "Chief! UNSC distress beacon detected!"

That stopped the Spartan in his tracks and he turned around and moved back to the holotable.

"Location?" he asked.

Cortana brought up the coordinates for him to see, "Between systems based on star charts of what we had back in the day, which isn't much."

Chief nodded as he looked over the information. He stopped at the code designation, "This code isn't used anymore." Chief stated, curiosity coming over him.

Cortana checked her files, seeing he was correct. "THis one hasn't been used in about twenty years Chief, so whoever's out there must have been from the middle of the Human-Covenant War."

"Plot a course and get us there ASAP." Chief ordered before turning to Rtas, "Stay and make plans for a base for your people on the planet." it nearly pained him to say those words, Reach being his home and one of the most well kept secrets the UNSC had during the war.

Rtas saluted him, "By your word Demon."

The Chief barely acknowledged it as he ran to the elevator and ordered Cortana to get Blue team and a force of prometheans to the _Marathon_ -class _Star Fury_ , and to launch it as soon as they were on board through his neural implant.

* * *

 **Arisentactica's A/N: And that is Chapter 5 of Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide! Chief and Cortana are home! Reach has made an appearance in the Mass Effect reality. Stick around to read Blue Team's reaction to finding their home in this reality. Hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review if you have a question or comment about the story. NOTICE: for a while, with all the fics that I have going on, there will only be** _ **ONE**_ **chapter update until I finish this story (only a few more chapters so it shouldn't take me long if I double down on this).**

 **A/N from Hunter Dracon: I've been busy with other things and haven't contributed as much as usual to this chapter. So to be honest, I'm not gonna be interacting with this as much for a while.**

 **Arisentactica: See you in the next chapter. Arisentactica over and out**


	6. Chapter 6: Meeting the Council

_**Chapter 6: New Allies, New Enemies**_

 **A/N: Welcome to chapter six of Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide! Let's see what happens when Chief and Hunter meet Citadel species. My partner in writing is taking a break from this story so his OCs will be absent from speaking very much. He will be mentioned though, but he won't be contributing to this story for a bit. Onto the story!**

 **3/27/19: I have rewritten some elements in the meeting to make things run a bit more smoothly in the long run.**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Halo or Mass Effect! Those go to 343 Industries and Bioware respectively.**

* * *

 _Date: April 27th, 2560 (Forerunner Reality)/ August 9th, 2178 (Reaper Reality)_

 _Location: 'Sword' Base, Reach_

When Blue team found out where they were from Cortana, they immediately made to find Chief and get an explanation out of him. When they did, they were happy, as happy as a Spartan II could get, that John had picked Reach for their main base. As a group, they named the base, that the sentinels hadn't started to build at that point, Sword Base in honor of their fallen brothers and sisters that sacrificed their lives to keep Humanity in the fight against the Covenant. When Hunter found out, he nearly blew up on Chief before the Spartan explained his idea of supply bases around the galaxy. The reason behind this was Cortana had sent Spectre ( **A/N: Hunter** ) a list of possible base locations and he'd already surveyed a few. When he came back from scouting, aside from being miffed about them already finding a base, he was almost a completely different person. He was much more calm, less likely to lash out, and overall easier to be around. He also found an active tuning fork and had Sapphira hack into its comm array. It held a gold mine of information and Sapphira shared it all with Cortana, who she had begun to trust and start a friendship with.

They found that the giant tuning forks were known as Mass Relays and there were 13 races that used them, Humanity among them. The most notable were the Turians, Asari, Salarians, Quarians, Batarians, and Krogan. The first three were the leading races in the galactic government known as the Citadel, making the ruling Council of the Citadel. Suffice it to say, Chief and Cortana weren't impressed or pleased when they came across the history of the Citadel.

The Council, from what they saw, had no moral code aside from a small few exceptions, those being genetic modification and AI development. When the Rachni Wars erupted, they ended it by uplifting the Krogan and forced them to fight while they took a back seat and watched them work. The wars ended when the last of the Rachni were killed. Instead of trying to establish some sort of border, the Citadel committed genocide to "keep their people safe from the terror of the Rachni".

The Krogan were another prime example. When they decided that they were going to live on the same planets as the Council races, the Krogan Rebellions, as they were known, started. They weren't even rebellions in reality, just a merciless campaign against the Krogan, driving them back to their homeworld of Tuchanka, and stripping them of any and all space-worthy ships they had access to. One of the current Council member races, the Turians, were uplifted to deal with the Krogan but what really ended the Rebellions was a biological weapon known as the Genophage. It was made by the Salarians and deployed by the Turians. It would target the reproductive organs of the Krogan and sterilize the sperm or eggs in the Krogan. Effectively, it crippled the Krogan's ability to make war.

It was appalling to Chief, Cortana and Rtas for a government that promoted peace and cooperation could resort to genocide for "the safety of their people". They were furious, but knew that they couldn't do anything to provoke them into a war that is unneeded. The Citadel needed to trust them, not try to exterminate them.

Cortana, Chief, and Rtas were in the newly completed command center of Sword Base discussing their next step with these facts at the forefront of their discussion.

"I think that we should contact the Asari first." Cortana said, "They seem to be the most level headed, besides their inability to stop fucking anyone they can."

Chief shook his head negatively. "Initiating first contact with the Asari could be the wrong decision, seeing as they are also the least adaptable of the races."

"What about the Turians?" Cortana asked, "They are a militaristic race to the core of their being. Wouldn't they understand the benefits of us being on their side instead of fighting us?"

Chief was silent for a long moment, thinking through what his partner had suggested.

"No. The Turians, while they are militaristic, are far too arrogant to recognize what a small group of ships which, while heavily armored and armed, would be too few to make a difference in a battle against a technologically superior foe. The Turians respect strength and numerical strength above that. We would need to reinforce ourselves with more soldiers, ships, vehicles, and equipment."

"And the Salarians are off the table for first contact?" she asked, making sure that their bases were covered at least partially before making a move.

Rtas was silent the entire time, deep in thought. He was going through all of the choices that they had and didn't like many of them. The only ones that stood out were the Krogan, but they reminded him of the Brutes, the Humans, but that could be the wrong move due to their position, or the Quarians, who were outcasts in Citadel society. The Turians reminded him of young Sangheili who were fresh out of training, arrogant and overconfident in their species' abilities and strength. There were few who didn't see that way, but they were elders of their race, not listened to very often.

"I believe that we should contact the Quarians." Rtas announced, breaking his silence and interrupting Chief and Cortana. Cortana gave him a surprised look while Chief turned to face him. "We stand to lose little if they refuse us. To gain their trust would take some time, time that we have at the moment. I believe however, that if they were to repair their grand fleet, they would be a force to be reckoned with."

Cortana looked at Chief bemusedly, knowing that the Sangheili had a good point, but wasn't sure if that was the best course of action.

"What do you think Chief? Quarians first or one of the others?" Cortana asked

Chief stood still, thinking about the Fleetmaster's words and how that would affect what they could do in the reality that they resided in. The Citadel would not work with them easily unless they had something of use that they thought was valuable. If they worked with the Quarians, however, if the Citadel knew about the contact, that action alone would hinder future diplomatic reputation with the Citadel, and most of the other known races that had been discovered in the process.

"We meet with the Citadel Council first, that is not an option." Chief announced, "We must show ourselves if we are to keep to ourselves as we plan to. After doing so, we can contact the Quarians and attempt to create an alliance between us. After that, we will be travelling to this 'Omega Station' and meet with the leader of the station."

"What about the Spectre?" Rtas asked, abiding by his request to call him that when he was not there as it would provide security using code names if the base was ever compromised.

"Set up strike missions for him against the well known slaver bases that aren't tactically impossible to pull off. He will be going in with Spartan-058 to take them off the map." he turned to Cortana, "Make a list of feasible targets that they could hit and send it to him. He will need to come back and pick up 058 for the missions."

Cortana nodded, "Gotcha Chief, will do."

Chief turned back to Rtas, "Put together a guard squad for when we meet with the Citadel and the Quarians, I have a feeling we'll need them."

The Fleetmaster nodded.

"Go over the history and reputations of the Citadel and Quarians and we won't be caught off guard. Dismissed."

'Vadum saluted and left to put together the guard team, leaving Chief and Cortana to discuss other matters.

 _∫µ∫_

 _Location: Council Chambers, Citadel, Widow Nebula_

 _Time: August 3rd, 2178 (Reaper Reality)_

Councilor Tevos was discussing what trade deals would be renewed and what deals would be rescinded or replaced with her fellow Councilors, Salarian Councilor Valern and Turian Councilor Sparatus, when an aid contacted them.

"Excuse the interruption Councilors, but I have important information that have been requested that you see." the aid announced.

Sparatus was the first to respond, "Who requested that we see this information?" he asked

"The Primarch and the Head Dalatrass did Councilor." the aid answered.

"Send it to us, we will look it over." Valern stated, intrigued about what both the Primarch and the Dalatrass would request they to see.

The aid complied and ended the connection. No sooner than the screen turning off, the councilor's omnitools pinged, notifying them of the information being received.

They looked over the information, shocked at the contents of what they received, and looked at each other.

"This… changes things." Tevos said, earning a 'no shit' expression from Sparatus.

"We must investigate this immediately, the possibilities are endless." Valern stated thoughtfully.

"Agreed. We must know if any new or young races have used the wormhole by accident and protect them if we can." Sparatus said, hoping to acquire a new client race for the Turians.

"Send a patrol fleet with a diplomatic attaché to search the surrounding area and the Relays surrounding it." Tevos said, "This cannot be a failed mission. We must find out if the wormhole has been used, and who used it, whether by accident… or purposefully."

The other Councilors agreed and soon a patrol fleet that held an Asari attaché was on its way to the area that the wormhole was located in. They would find the ship or ships and the species that built them, or never come home to see their families, by order of the Council.

∫µ∫

 _Location: Bridge of the_ Dawn's Light _, near Horsehead Nebula Relay_

 _Date: April 29th 2160 (Forerunner Reality)/August 11th, 2178 (Reaper Reality)_

Chief was on the bridge of his ship with Blue Team, minus Linda, having just briefed them on the plan. Hunter and Linda wouldn't be with them at the Citadel as they were busy scouting out the Terminus Systems and wreaking havoc on the slave trade in the area. Chief's only requirement was that Blue Team showed no skin, including their heads. They didn't need to be known as Humans, as Humanity was already in this reality, because that could complicate things and complications never ended well when it came to Spartan IIs. Rtas would be with them, as would an entire squad of Spec Ops Elites. Warden and Eternal would stay out of both discussion and sight during the meeting, as would any Prometheans, as they would be seen as similar to the Geth.

Chief brought a _Halberd_ -class along with them as he didn't want to show off his personal ship. It wouldn't be wise to show his ace in the hole at the start. Also, if they understood the Extranet's information on warship sizes, the _Halberd_ would be in the cruiser/heavy cruiser category. It wouldn't be the heaviest ship that they'd seen, but it would be a strange one. The distinct arrow shape of the ship would mean to most that it was a fast ship, and they wouldn't be wrong, but the Halberd-class isn't as fast as most ships in Citadel space, or as maneuverable, but it makes up for that with heavy armour, shields, and weapons.

The ships were ready for the swap and Cortana told Chief.

"Transfer to the _Nightshade_ Cortana and enact plan 401." Chief ordered, "We will meet you and the Sangheili on the bridge."

"401 Chief?" Fred asked.

"As soon as we leave on the _Nightshade_ , I will activate a subroutine that takes the Dawn's Light back to Reach." Cortana explained.

Fred and Kelly nodded as they moved to grab their weapons, Fred a UNSC DMR and silenced Magnum, Kelly a shotgun and Magnum. Chief always kept a standard issue UNSC assault rifle on his armor, but this time he also had a Magnum on his hip. Ready for meeting the Council, the three veteran Spartans made their way to the airlock that the Nightshade was attached to, their main weapons in their hands in a relaxed grip, ready for any situation that could arise.

∫µ∫

 _Location: Widow Nebula, five hundred thousand kilometers from the Citadel._

 _Date: April 29th 2160 (Forerunner Reality)/August 11th, 2178 (Reaper Reality)_

In between the Citadel Defense Fleet and the Citadel, a small wormhole opened up. This wasn't just any wormhole, it was a Slipspace portal. As soon as it opened, an arrow like ship emerged from the portal. It was a good sized ship at just under half a kilometer, but it was definitely a warship. It had thick, sloped armor on the front half of the ship and two barrels coming out the front of the ship, cannon barrels.

It was definitely clear that it was a ship built for war, but what was it doing at the Citadel, and how did it get there? These were questions that were on the forefront of the Captains of the Defense Fleet ships. The overall commander of the fleet, Matriarch Lidanya, Captain of the Destiny Ascension, was scrambling to surround and stop the ship that was on a direct course for the Citadel.

"Get us in front of that alien ship now! That ship cannot not be allowed to reach the Citadel." she ordered the bridge crew. She then opened a comm channel fleet wide. "All ships, get in front of that ship and keep it there. We need to know what it's doing here." she ordered, then closed the channel.

Well, all she could do was wait and see if her ships could catch up to the strange ship and hope that the crew of the ship doesn't prove hostile.

∫µ∫

 _Location: Bridge of the_ Nightshade _, near Citadel station, Widow Nebula_

The Citadel ships were starting to get on Chief's nerves. They just kept following them like the ship was a major threat, which it was if they were here to cause as much damage as possible. They were nearly in comm range and Cortana was about to get a direct line to the Council.

Cortana was ecstatic that she could hack into things again. She just hoped it would be a challenge, even a little one.

A few minutes passed and they were in comm range. Cortana got to work immediately. She hailed the station on a broad channel to mask her true target, the frequency of the Council chamber. As soon as the hail was accepted, she was in the system.

The firewalls were _awful,_ a joke compared to even the lowest ONI encryption algorithm.

"Damn it," Cortana muttered to herself, "I was hoping for it to be harder than that."

She slipped into the communication system and got the frequency for the terminal in the private Council chambers, then slipped out and hailed them specifically.

"You're on Chief." Cortana said as she appeared in the holotube closest to him.

Chief nodded once, a slight nod but for a Spartan, or someone used to Spartans, that was enough for it to be seen.

"This is Master Chief Sierra-117 calling the Council of the Citadel." he announced into the channel. All he had to do was wait and see if they would respond.

∫µ∫

 _Location: Private Council Chamber_

' _This is Master Chief Sierra-117 calling the Council of the Citadel_.' a deep gravelly voice boomed out of the terminal in the private Council chamber, making the Councilors jump in surprise.

Sparatus was the one to react first, his military training kicking in. "Who is this?!" he demanded.

' _We are a race that is new to the galaxy. I am Spartan 117, commanding officer of the_ Nightshade.' the same voice replied.

Tevos silently sighed in relief that their unexpected visitors were a new species. Hopefully they could help them grow into a good ally of the Citadel, if not adding them into the fold. "How may we help you?" she asked calmly, her diplomatic persona starting to make itself known.

' _If you would order your fleet to stop chasing us and give us permission to dock, we would be grateful. We are here for a peaceful First Contact and wish to begin a relationship with the Citadel_.' the voice stated.

Tevos looked at her fellow Councilors to gauge their reactions. Sparatus was mad, that she could see, but Valern was more intrigued than anything. The Salarian nodded his head in approval while Sparatus grunted and nodded curtly. Tevos turned back to the terminal so that they could hear her voice clearly.

"Very well." Tevos said, her diplomatic persona coming in fully, "You will hear from the traffic controller as to which hangar you can dock in. You will then be escorted to the Council Chamber so that we may speak with you."

' _Understood Councilors_.' the voice responded before closing the channel, leaving the Councilors to discuss how they would deal with the surprise visit.

∫µ∫

 _Location: Council Chamber, Citadel Station_

It took the idiots at Citadel Control an hour to just find the _Nightshade_ a space to dock. Or that's what it felt like to Cortana, who was in Chief's armor as they entered the elegant, far to elegant in Cortana's opinion, Council Chamber. The chambers were open and spacious at least, but that just meant that anyone with a microphone would be able to have what would feel like a commanding presence.

When they reached the railing signaling the end of the platform, Councilor Tevos spoke.

"You stand before the Council of the Citadel. I am Councilor Tevos, representing the Asari Republics."

Valern spoke next, being the representative of one of the co-founders of the Council.

"I am Councilor Valern, representing the Salarian Union."

Sparatus introduced himself next in a gruff manner. "I am Councilor Sparatus, representing the Turian Hierarchy."

Rtas stepped forward and said, "I am Rtas 'Vadum, leader of this delegation." he then gestured to the Spartans, "Beside me is my trusted ally, whom you know as Spartan 117 from when we spoke, and his advisors, Spartans 087 and 104."

"Due to the lack of information surrounding yourselves," Councilor Tevos began, "I believe that I speak for all of us when I ask this: who are you and why did you come to us?"

Rtas spoke first, knowing that the Spartans wanted to keep their species anonymous.

"We are a group of species known as the Reclaimers honored Councilors. Why we came here is a simple answer, to be known in the larger galaxy. We came because we wanted to know if their was anyone besides us in this large galaxy of ours."

"And what are you reclaiming?" Valern inquired.

"A lost piece history that we have discovered." Chief answered simply.

After a moment of silence Sparatus spoke, "Are you going to elaborate?" he asked irritatedly.

"We do not know of its origin, but we know that it was created by a race very similar to ours. The best scientists we have are trying to unlock more of its secrets as we speak." Fred answered.

Valern's curiosity made him ask, "Would you like some assistance with the object? The Citadel has many scientists who would jump at the chance to help a new species and learn to help them."

Fred shook his head, "Our scientists have it handled Councilor. Thank you for your offer of support. We hope to combine our efforts in the future to better improve relations between our societies."

∫µ∫

 _Location: Bridge of_ Halberd _-class Destroyer_ Nightshade

6 hours. It took 6 hours to get through everything with the Council. The only things that were accomplished were, the Citadel knew of them, they had a new military attaché from the Council races, minus the Salarians, and the Council was advised not to interfere in their affairs unless asked or given permission to do so. That was a tense half hour between Rtas and Sparatus. But they got it done, and they were now on their way to the Quarians to see if they could help them at all.

They were currently in Slipspace on their way to the last known location of the Quarian flotilla. After they arrived, if the fleet wasn't still there, they'd see if there was anything to track them with and go from there. Chief was nearly done with all of the diplomacy however, but he would weather it so that they had at least one ally in this reality, hopefully two if Hunter was successful with the Krogan Battlemasters on Tuchanka.

"Exiting Slipspace in 15 minutes Chief, better get ready." Cortana announced, breaking Chief out of his thoughts.

"Understood, I'll be on the bridge in 5." Chief replied before cutting the comm.

Hopefully the Quarians would be open to an alliance, because if they were then they could get them a base near Reach that allowed them to step out of their suits. Cortana was already working on a atmosphere sterilizer for them, she was also working on a passive immune system booster that worked over time so that the Quarians wouldn't be trapped in their suits. Chief only hoped that they could help the Quarians get settled in their base to partially rebuild their civilization, it would definitely help when the Reapers came.

* * *

 **A/N: And here is the end of chapter 6! I know it's short but diplomatic meetings aren't my strong suit. I'm working on getting better and, as stated previously, I have rewritten some elements of the chapter and the meeting do to something that a reviewer brought up that I agreed with when I looked back in the chapter. Next chapter will show the outcome of the meetings and we'll meet the Citadel's military attaché! Next chapter will also be longer as I'm getting out of a hectic period in life that didn't really allow me to write very much. Updates will hopefully speed up but we'll see what happens. See you in the next one!**

 **Arisentactica over and out**


	7. I'm Back!

**A/N:** **Hey guys! I'm off hiatus for this story! YAY! I finally got my head out of my ass, strapped myself into the writers seat of this story, and got it working. Chapter 6 is still being rewritten (that was a mess) and the plotline after chapter 5 is completely flushed out so it's just putting that into actual readable story format instead of a list of events that I have to do. See you when I republish chapter 6!**

 **Arisentactica over and out**


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